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CHRIST THE INCOMPARABLE 





Christ 


they 
Incomparable 


J By 
W. B. RILEY, D.D. 


Pastor, First Baptist Church, 
Minneapolis, Minn. 
Author of ‘‘The Crisis of the Church,” ‘‘The 
Evolution of the Kingdom,” “The 
Menace of Modernism,”’ etc. 





New York CHICAGO 


Fleming H. Revell Company 


LONDON AND EDINBURGH 


Copyright, 1924, by 
FLEMING H. REVELL COMPANY 


Printed in the United States of America 


New York: 158 Fifth Avenue 
Chicago: 17 North Wabash Ave. 
London: 21 Paternoster Square 
Edinburgh: 75 Princes Street 


Foreword 


HE, chapters of this volume were prepared 
separately in time and independently in ob- 
ject, and were delivered from the pulpit of 

the First Baptist Church, Minneapolis. We now 
assemble them for publication, inspired by the hope 
that they may, in published form, instruct and 
strengthen a greater multitude. 

Beyond question, Christ is the citadel of Chris- 
tianity. So long as His name remains the incom- 
parable one of the earth, just that long Christianity 
stands as the one and only sufficient religion. 

That the crown of glory shall ever be taken from 
His brow we have no fears whatever. Modernism 
will no more succeed in effectually sealing Him in 
a tomb than did the Romans, or in discrediting His 
claims than did the Jews. 

As His Word “is forever settled in heaven,” so 
must His claim of Deity be forever settled for 
earth. 

If this volume accomplishes for any considerable 
number of readers both a confirmation of faith in 
Christ and an increased affection for Him, the 
author will be well content. 

W. B. R. 


Minneapolis, Minn. 





XII. 


\ 


Contents 


. THe Curist OF PROPHECY . . . 9 
PACOHRIST THE) VIRGINABORN) Fuhr 20 
. THE CHILDHOOD OF CHRIST . . . 4/7 
MOH RIST THE TEACHER ohne iN ug 
PiIGHRIST SoBIRSN APOSTLES 68 ZG 
. THe MiraAcLEs oF Curist . ... 95 
Oo hHE MINISTRY/OF GHRIST! Nyaio i wbES 
be RHE MISSION OF CHRIST Ginn wit abd 
. THE ATONEMENT OF CHrist. . . 151 
. Curist’s RESURRECTION AND ASCEN- 
SION PIE oe Tee NAMED Seen aD REA APE Coe 
. CuRist, THE INCOMPARABLE . . . 181 


CHRIST AND THE CHANGING ORDER . 199 


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I 
Dre CHRIST: OF PROPHECY 


“Unto us a child is born; unto us a son is given; 
and the government shall be upon his shoulder; and 
hts name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The 
Mighty God, The Everlasting Father, The Prince of 
Peace.’—Isa, 9:6. 


HERE is much in Isaiah that must be re- 
ferred to the shadows, owing to the degen- 
eracy of the times in which he lived; still, 

when the light does break, it floods the page with 
glory, for it is the light from the face of the Mes- 
siah of prophecy. Charles Haddon Spurgeon, 
speaking from the phrase “ His name shall be 
called Wonderful,’ compares this text to a storm 
at sea which he had just witnessed. It was a dark 
night and the sky was covered with clouds, and 
thunder answered to thunder, and lightning’s flash 
but left a deeper darkness on all the waters, when 
he noticed far away on the horizon, as if miles 
distant, a bright spot shining like gold. It was the 
moon breaking through a rift in the clouds, and 
while she could not shine where the prophet of God 
stood, he could behold the spot far distant upon 
which her mellow rays fell in beauty. And he 


9 


10 THE CHRIST OF PROPHECY 


thought of Isaiah when all about him was thick 
darkness and the very air was charged with the 
thunders of God’s anger, and the lightnings of His 
vengeance, and yet he could say “The people that 
walked in darkness have seen a great light. They 
that dwell in the land of the shadow of death upon 
them hath the Light shined,” by anticipating the 
hour when the text of this chapter would be 
the truth. 

No one can read the Major Prophets, or for that 
matter, the Minor Prophets of the Old Testament, 
without appreciating how dark were their days. 
All that they were privileged to see with the natural 
eye was apostasy and captivity, with all the evil 
consequences of both. But they never despaired, 
because the last man of them entertained “ the 
glorious hope” voiced in this text. They knew 
their time to be that dark hour which presages the 
coming day. In other words, they believed in the 
, Christ to come. If to us Christmas is a memorial, 
“to them it was an anticipation. And as we look 
back to the manger and the Cross, they looked for- 
ward to both. Our prophets are imploring us to 
“believe on the Christ who came,” at all seasons 
their prophets were pointing them to “the Christ 
who was to come,” as witness the words of Isaiah 
spoken more than seven hundred years before the 
birth of the Wonderful One, “ Unto us a child is 
born, unto us a son is given; and his name shall be 
called Wonderful, Counsellor, Mighty God, Ever- 


THE CHRIST OF PROPHECY 11 


lasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of 
his government and of peace there shall be no end, 
upon the throne of David, and upon his king- 
dom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice 
and with righteousness from henceforth even for- 
ever.” (R. V.) 

Now, following the suggestion of the text, we 
see four things: 


I. THE COMING OF CHRIST. 


“ Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given,” 
Isaiah has before spoken of this wondrous child. 
To the house of David he had addressed these 
words, “ The Lord himself will give you a sign; 
Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son and 
shall call his name Immanuel. Butter and honey 
shall he eat” (7: 14-15). 

He knew, then, that He was to come in the 
flesh—born of a woman. He not only prophesies 
his humility in that He was to be born of a virgin; 
but the hardships of his life in that He was to sub- 
sist upon “ butter and honey,” for butter and honey 
are the products of that land which the people ate 
when all else had failed. The true humanity of 
Jesus is suggested also by the phrase, “ Unto us a 
child is born.” As Jesus said to Nicodemus, “‘ That 
which is born of the flesh is flesh.”’ Paul, in his 
epistle to the Philippians, speaks of Christ Jesus 
“ who existing in the form of God emptied himself, 
taking the form of a servant, being made in the 


12 THE CHRIST OF PROPHECY 


likeness of men, and being found in fashion as a 
man, he humbled himself, becoming obedient even 
unto death, yea, the death of the cross” (2: 6-7). 
But ‘the form of a man” would not indicate the 
nature. There might be a sinless, there might be 
a sinful servant. This same apostle, however, in 
his epistle to the Hebrews, says, “ Since then the. 
children are sharers in flesh and blood, he also 
himself in like manner partook of the same... . 
For verily not to angels doth he give help, but he 
giveth help to the seed of Abraham. Wherefore 
it behooved him in all things to be made like unto 
his brethren” (2:14, 16-17). While to the 
Romans Paul writes, “ For what the law could not 
do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God, 
sending his own Son, in the likeness of sinful 
flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh; that 
the ordinance of the law might be fulfilled in us, 
who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit.” 
Every man may feel, therefore, that when Christ 
was born He descended sufficiently deep to lay 
hold upon his condition, and lend him help. He 
who was equal with the Father for our sakes be- 
came as one of us, that He might bring us to God. 
Dr. Lorimer, in one of his volumes, speaks of the 
Christian’s influence in the Roman Empire. He 
treated the Goth, the Persian and the Roman as if 
they were one until they themselves came to see that 
they were “made of one blood.” And Lorimer 
remarks “As a result of this growing conviction, 


THE CHRIST OF PROPHECY 13 


Caracalla conferred the dignity of Roman citizen- 
ship upon the civilised world. The day when this 
famous edict was issued has been considered one of 
the epoch-making days of history. Nor can its sig- 
nificance be over-estimated; it was in a sense the 
Coronation Day of Humanity. It recognised the 
essential greatness of man’s nature.’’ But do we 
not believe that the great Coronation Day of Hu- 
manity occurred when Jesus was born “ in the like- 
ness of sinful flesh and for sin, condemned sin in 
the flesh”? That day recognised the essential 
degradation of Humanity, but by the act of God in 
Christ, lifted the same up to its Coronation. And 
not a child has been born since that need lead a 
hopeless life or die a hopeless death. | 

Isaiah knew, also, that he was to come from 
God—begotten by the Holy Ghost. As Jesus said 
to Nicodemus, “ That which is born of the Spirit is 
spirit.” Therein is the explanation of the angel’s 
words to Mary, “ The Holy Spirit shall come upon 
thee, and the power of the Most High shall over- 
shadow thee; wherefore also the holy thing which 
is begotten shall be called the Son of God” (Luke 
~ 1:35). John, in his first epistle, (3:5) says of 
Jesus, “ And ye know that he was manifested to 
take away sins; and in him is no sin,” and explains 
by verse nine, ‘‘ Whosoever is begotten of God 
doeth no sin because his seed abideth in him, and he 
cannot sin because he is begotten of God.” The 
humanity of Jesus, therefore, harmonised perfectly 


14 THE CHRIST OF PROPHECY 


with His essential deity. And it is one of the 
marvels of inspiration that Isaiah saw and ex- 
pressed this harmony when he said, “ For unto us a 
child is born, and unto us a son is given.” 

He was born of a virgin; He was given of God— 
“God so loved the world that he gave his only be- 
gotten Son.” That is why Jesus could say unto the 
Jews, “ Ye are from beneath, I am from above: ye 
are of this world, I am not of this world.” And 
that is why Jesus could make claim of wisdom, 
might and power, which would have been Dlas- 
phemy upon the lips of another. Such, for in- 
stance, as “I am the Way,” “I am the Truth,” 
“No man cometh unto the Father but by me,” 
“Except ye believe that I am he, ye shall die in 
your sins,’ “I am the door of the sheep,’ “I am 
the good shepherd,” “ Whatsoever ye shall ask in 
my name that will I do.” That is why Jesus could 
lay claim upon the consciences and to the obedience 
of men, saying, “ Ye are my friends if ye do the 
things which I command you.” His colossal claim, 
“‘ All power in heaven and in earth is given unto 
me,” accorded perfectly with His command, “ As 
ye go preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at 
hand. Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the 
dead, cast out devils; freely ye have received, 
freely give.” 

We may have a debt of gratitude to the Unita- 
rians and Universalists, and other Liberalists for 
having laid beautiful emphasis upon the humanity 


THE CHRIST OF PROPHECY 15 


of Jesus, but they have also imposed upon us the 
painful necessity of uttering repeated warnings 
against forgetting or denying the essential deity of 
Jesus. With Comte, too many are now tempted to 
believe that the only religion is “the religion of 
Humanity,’ by which, as one of our greatest 
preachers has remarked, ‘“ They mean a religion 
without a revelation, and even without a God.” 
The work of those critics who propose to give us a 
human Christ is no less a denial of His deity be- 
cause they happen to cover His humanity with 
speeches fair as midsummer flowers. We are told 
that the executioner who beheaded Charles I. bowed 
before His majesty, kissed his hand, and begged 
pardon for undertaking the unpleasant commission 
in which he was engaged. But the king’s head 
came off just the same. Not a few of our critics 
seem to have studied this bit of history to a purpose 
and when they propose to decapitate Christianity by 
removing its Head, the Christ who is “ very God,” 
they proceed with specious words and extravagant 
compliments to the humanity of Jesus, but deny 
His deity just the same. Utter what compliments 
they may, the Holy Ghost answers their words— 
“Who is the liar but he that denieth that Jesus is 
the Christ?’”’ (I John 2:22), and again of Jesus 
Christ, “‘ This is the true God and eternal life” 
(I John 5:20). If the humanity of Jesus is essen- 
tial to our Christian characters, and it is, the deity 
of Jesus is our only hope of salvation; for if we 


16 THE CHRIST OF PROPHECY 


have trusted in a man and not in God our hope is in 
vain and we are yet in our sins. But Isaiah says 
not only “ Unto us a child is born,” but, also, “ unto 
us a son is given.” 


II. THE CROWNING OF CHRIST. 


“ And the government shall be upon his shoul- 
ders,” reference to the insignia of office which is 
worn on the shoulder where it marks the high offi- 
cial and also suggests his power to sustain that 
which is committed unto him. Isaiah himself gives 
us this very interpretation of his own words when 
he speaks of Eliakim, who was to be a “ father to 
the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the house of 
Judah,” and of whom the Lord of hosts says, “I 
will commit thy government into his hands—and 
the key of the house of David will I lay upon his 
shoulder.” 

Keeping this in mind, permit three suggestions 
concerning the crowning of Christ: 

He shall govern God’s people. This Coming One 
is more often described under the single phrase 
“the king of Israel” than by any other of the 
marvelous and many sentences employed to depict 
Him. If one trace the Scriptures through he will 
find that when He sets up His throne it will be in 
the midst of His own people, children of Abraham 
by flesh, and children of Abraham by faith. 
“When the tabernacle of God is with men he shall 
dwell with them and they shall be his peoples.” 


THE CHRIST OF PROPHECY 17 


He shall govern absolutely and alone. “The — 
government shall be upon his shoulder.” The ex- 
clusiveness of Jesus’ reign is signally set forth in 


the seventy-second Psalm, “ He shall have domin- * 


ion also from sea to sea; and from the River unto 
the ends of the earth. They that dwell in the wil- 
derness shall bow before him; and his enemies shall 
lick the dust. The kings of Tarshish and of the 
isles shall render tribute; the kings of Sheba and 
Seba shall offer gifts. Yea, all kings shall fall 
down before him; All nations shall serve him.” It 
is related that the king of Prussia visited a village 
school and was welcomed by the children. Having 
spoken to them, he took an orange from a plate and 
asked, “To what kingdom does this belong?” 
“To the vegetable!” Then a piece of money. 
“To the mineral kingdom,” answered a little girl. 
“And to what kingdom do I belong?” questioned 
the king. Upon a little reflection the child an- 
swered, “‘ To God’s Kingdom, sire.” It is said that 
tears came to the king’s eyes. As he placed his 
hand gently on the child’s head he said, “‘ God grant 
that I may be counted worthy of that kingdom.” 
And the time is coming when every king of the 
earth, instead of sitting in the place of power, shall 
prostrate himself at Jesus’ feet, for it is written, 
“As I live, saith the Lord, to me every knee shall 
bow, and every tongue shall confess to God” 
(Rom. 14:11). 

He shall govern with authority and power. 'The 


18 THE CHRIST OF PROPHECY 


mark of office upon His shoulder is the sign of His 
authority, while the shoulder itself is the place and 
symbol of power. It was Jesus who said, “ All 
authority is given unto me in heaven and on earth,” 
and who claimed for Himself, “ Henceforth ye 
shall see the Son of man sitting at the right hand of 
Power.” Authority and Power—He shall govern 
with both. They belong to the very office which He 
holds, they are essential to the success of the King. 
I remember that in Hood’s “ Cromwell,” chapter 
twelve, when the Scots invited the return of Charles 
IT., and were defeated by the army of Cromwell, 
Hood remarks, “It certainly does appear that 
David Leslie, the Commander of the Scots at 
Dunbar, found his hands tied by a committee, and 
any kind of battle anywhere may be lost, but prob- 
ably no battle of any kind was ever gained by a 
committee.” ‘The King—Christ—takes His opin- 
ions from no other. You will remember the aston- 
ishment that the teaching of Jesus created because 
“he taught them as one having authority and not 
as their scribes.” And with that authority there is 
coupled power. 

How many men there are now who feel abso- 
lutely bound by every word which Jesus speaks. 
‘They recognise His right to utter what He will and 
His power to enforce His least wish. ‘There was a 
time when Hildebrand was not only a person of 
authority, but also of power. He could even leave 
the Emperor of Germany, himself, standing outside 


THE CHRIST OF PROPHECY 19 


the gate of his castle at Canossa, barefoot in the 
snow, begging for mercy from the man who pro- 
fessed to be the Vicar of Christ. But where is that 
authority and where is that power now? It passed, 
as did all his splendid pretensions. Nobody cares 
what Hildebrand said, for his arm of flesh; like his 
magnificent robes, rests now in the dust. Not so 
with Christ, upon whom God has laid the insignia 
of authority and power! He commands more men 
today than ever before. He exercises, today, all 
the power of the Godhead. And yet He has 
only commenced to command; He has revealed 
but a little of His power. Wait until the govern- 
ment is laid upon His shoulder, and He is crowned 
King of kings, and Lord of lords, “ then will he 
stretch out his hand over the sea, and shake the 
kingdoms.” 


III. THE CHARACTER OF CHRIST. 


According to the pen of Inspiration this charac- 
ter is four-fold, the ‘‘ Wonderful Counsellor,” the 
“Mighty God,” the “Everlasting Father,’ and 
“The Prince of Peace.” George Adam Smith 
doubts if these four names prove incontrovertibly 
that the prophet had an absolutely Divine Person 
in view; but we cannot share Smith’s scepticism. 
These words can never be applied to another than 
the Kinc of kings, the Lorn of lords, who though 
the Son is yet “ the very God.” 

The Wonderful Counsellor. In the original this 


20 THE CHRIST OF PROPHECY 


is a compound word, and expresses what is with 
Isaiah a favourite feature of the “ Coming One’s.”’ 
character. It is the same idea he expresses when 
he says concerning the increase of the ground, 
“This also cometh forth from Jehovah of hosts, 
who is wonderful in counsel.” Spurgeon, in his 
sermon on “ The Wonderful Counsellor,” reminds 
us that Jesus is God’s counsellor. He sits in the 
cabinet council of the King of Heaven. He was 
there when God said “ Let us make man in our own 
image.’ He was there when the subjects of grace 
were determined. He was there when the plan of 
the ages was perfected. ‘And yet,’ adds Spur- 
geon, “ He is our Counsellor, a necessary Counsel- 
lor, a hearty Counsellor, a sweet Counsellor, and, 
thank God, a safe Counsellor.” No wonder Spur- 
geon concluded his great sermon by saying, “ Obey 
His counsel and you shall have to rejoice that you 
ever listened to His voice, for He is indeed the 
‘Wonder ful-Counsellor.’ ”’ 

The Mighty God. Here is another phrase of 
which the Holy Spirit seems fond. In the very 
next chapter we read of a “ remnant that shall re- 
turn, even the remnant of Jacob, unto the Mighty- 
God.” It is not sufficient to speak of the authority 
and the power of Jesus, a weightier word is needed, 
a compound word which confounds His enemies 
and comforts His people—“ The Mighty-God.” I 
am glad for the thought of power suggested. I am 
still more glad for the deity affirmed. And we 


THE CHRIST OF PROPHECY 21 


know that Jesus has already so far filled up this 
description that Theodore Parker, though a liberal 
and a sceptic, was compelled to confess that fulness 
in these words, “‘ Nazareth was no Athens where 
philosophy breathed in the circumambient air; it 
had neither Porch nor Lyceum; not even a Schooi 
of the Prophets. There is God in the heart of this 
youth, that mightiest heart that ever beat; stirred 
with the spirit of God, how it wrought in His 
bosom.” | 

The Everlasting Father. This is another of the 
prophet’s favourite terms. It was Isaiah who 
wrote, “ For thou art our Father, though Abraham 
knoweth us not and Israel doth not acknowledge 
us : thou, O Jehovah, art our Father, our Redeemer, 
from everlasting is thy name” (63:16). And 
yet again, “But now, O Jehovah, thou art our 
Father; we are the clay and thou our potter, and 
we are all the work of thy hand.” It is blessed to 
couple the thought of Creator and Father in one. 
The working of principles may produce certain 
effects, but only a person can feel affection. When, 
therefore, we call the Creator ‘‘ Our Father,” we 
put a heart into that force which spake and the 
worlds were. And, oh, what a heart! Who can 
sound all the depth of the meaning of the word 
“father ’? Who can search out all the fulness of 
a father’s love? And if it be true that the affection 
of an earthly father is unspeakable, immeasurable, 
with what words shall we weigh that of our Christ 


22 THE CHRIST OF PROPHECY 


when He comes to us in the name of “the Evver- 
lasting Father”? It speaks to us not alone of 
redemption, but also of reconciliation. It means 
what Charles Wesley wrote: 


“My God is reconciled ; 
His pardoning voice I hear; 
He owns me for His child; 
I can no longer fear: 
With confidence I now draw nigh, 
And Father, Abba Father, cry.” 


The Prince of Peace. It is intensely interesting 
to see how Isaiah keeps up this term “ Peace.” It 
is truly a theme with him. He prophesies “ The 
Prince of Peace.” He sings “ Thou wilt keep him 
in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee, be- 
cause he trusteth in thee.” He says of Jehovah, 
“Thou wilt ordain peace with us.” He affirms of 
the work of righteousness, “ It shall be peace,” and 
the effect of righteousness “ quietness and confi- 
dence forever.” He declares, ‘“ How beautiful 
upon the mountains are the feet of him that bring- 
eth good tidings, that publisheth peace.” And he 
rejoices with the children of Jehovah because 
“great shall be their peace.’ And when he con- 
cludes his prophecy he writes of Jerusalem, the 
words of Jehovah, “ Behold I will send peace to 
her like a river”; but he makes Jesus the Prince 
of all this peace. 

There is a climax in all these phases of char- 


THE CHRIST OF PROPHECY 23 


acter; He is a “ Wonderful Counsellor,’ He is 
“ Mighty God,” He is “the Everlasting Father,” 
but He is, and, blessed be His Name, “‘ The Prince 
of Peace.” No wonder Morrison sang: 


“The race that long in darkness pined 
Have seen a glorious Light; 
The people dwell in day, who dwelt 
In death’s surrounding night. 


“To us a Child of hope is born, 
To us a Son is given; 
Him shall the tribes of earth obey, 
Him all the hosts of heaven. 


“His name shall be the Prince of Peace, 
For evermore adored; 
The Wonderful, the Counsellor, 
The great and mighty Lord. 


“ His power, increasing, still shall spread ; 
His reign no end shall know; 
Justice shall guard His throne above 
And peace abound below.” 


IV. THE INCREASE OF CHRIST. 


“‘ Of the increase of his government and of peace 
there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and 
upon his kingdom, to establish it, and to uphold it 
with justice and with righteousness from hence- 
forth even forever.” : 

There shall be growth in His government. This 
idea may be interpreted in the light of past events. 


24: THE CHRIST OF PROPHECY 


There was a time when the followers of Jesus were 
few indeed. But “ the little one” has already “ be- 
come a thousand” and the “small one a strong 
nation.” ‘Those who think Christ’s kingdom is 
now upon earth call our attention to this fact, and 
remind us that He governs everywhere. But who 
shall answer that heretic George Herron when he 
asks us to show him “a village, a town, a city, in 
which Christ rules’? And yet, the promise is 
that a time will come when He shall reign from 
sea to sea, and from the rivers unto the ends of 
the earth, when the government shall indeed be 
on His shoulder. And we hold that that gov- 
ernment shall grow. Jacob Seiss, in his third 
volume on “ ‘The Apocalypse,” discusses the per- 
petuity of “the race, and the ongoing of the 
redeemed,” proving that “the earth abideth for- 
ever,” and that those who are upon it when Jesus 
comes will only be an earnest of “ the generations 
of the age of the ages” of which Paul speaks in 
Epesians 3:21. 

That, also, is the explanation of the Apocalyptic 
vision, “ After these things I saw, and behold a 
great multitude which no man could number, out of 
every nation, and of all tribes and peoples and 
tongues, standing before the throne and before the 
Lamb, arrayed in white robes, and palms in their 
hands; and they cry with a great voice, saying, Sal- 
vation unto our God who sitteth upon the throne; 
and unto the Lamb.” 


THE CHRIST OF PROPHECY 25 


When Thomas Kelley sang, 


“Hark! ten thousand harps and voices, 
Sound the note of praise above; 
Jesus reigns and heaven rejoices ; 
Jesus reigns, the God of Love; 
See, He sits on yonder throne; 
Jesus rules the world alone,” 


he dealt in small figures, forgetting Isaiah’s claim 
“of the increase of his government there shall be 
no end.” 

Peace also shall prevail in it increasingly. When 
Christ first comes all rebellion against Him will not 
be at an end. Read the twenty-fifth of Matthew; 
read the twentieth chapter of Revelation, and see 
also what the Apostle Paul means when he says, 
“hen cometh the end, when he shall have deliv- 
ered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when 
he shall have abolished all rule and all authority and 
power, for he must reign until he hath put all ene- 
mies under his feet ” (I Cor. 15:24, 25). Go back 
over the past and see the conflicts of the Christ; 
conflicts with false teachers and hypocritical fol- 
lowers in the first century; conflicts with arrogant 
bishops and evil emperors, in the fourth and fifth 
centuries; conflicts with a rising Roman Papacy in 
the sixth century; conflicts with the immoralities 
and spiritual deadness of the eleventh and twelfth 
centuries; conflicts with the false doctrines of the 
sixteenth century; in the commonwealth of the 


26 THE CHRIST OF PROPHECY 


seventeenth; in the revolutions of the eighteenth ; 
conflicts with the slavery and selfishness of the 
nineteenth. And yet, such a teacher as Newell 
Dwight Hillis tells us—“ He has triumphed, as one 
knows who studies the conquest of the first century 
church, the Christian activities of the fourth and 
fifth centuries, the crusades of the eleventh and 
twelfth, the reformation of the sixteenth, the revo- 
lutions of the seventeenth, the emancipations and 
missions of the nineteenth.’”’ And Hillis remarks, 
“ Christ has touched poverty and clothed it with 
power. He has touched marriage and turned it into 
romance and love; He is now ready to touch work 
and wages and make them sacraments of human 
fellowship.” 

But there is even a better hope. The absent 
Christ has accomplished this by His ever-present 
Spirit. The “ Christ to come ” by “ the increase of 
his government” shall compass infinitely more. 
When Henry VII. was crowned King of England 
the army of the Duke of Richmond sang a hymn of 
praise to God, and Tytler’s History tells us that 
“That auspicious day put an end to the civil war 
between the houses of York and Lancaster. By 
marrying the Princess Elizabeth, Henry united in 
his own person the interests and rights of both 
these families (his own and that of Edward IV.). 
The nation, under his wise and politic administra- 
tion, soon recovered the wounds it had sustained in 
those unhappy contests, the parliaments which he 


THE CHRIST OF PROPHECY 27 


assembled made the most salutary laws, the people 
paid their taxes without reluctance, the nobles kept 
in due subordination.” All of which brought to 
that government, now famed the world around, a 
peace and prosperity which has since made it the 
notable kingdom of the world. But who was 
Henry VII, and what were his laws when compared 
with the Kinc of whom our text speaks? ‘ Of the 
increase of his government and of peace there shall 
be no end.’”’ Why, then, should we not sing, 


“Come, quickly come, great King of all 
Reign all around us, and within ; 
Let sin no more our souls enthrall, 
Let pain and sorrow die with sin; 
Come, quickly come, for Thou alone 
Canst make Thy scattered people one.” 


His government, also, shall increase in righteous- 
ness. ‘Of the increase of his government there 
shall be no end. And to uphold it with justice and 
with righteousness from henceforth even forever.” 
Do you remember how that Danish king Canute 
wrote to his English subjects, “I have vowed to 
God to lead a right life in all things, to rule justly 
and piously in my realm, and subjects, and to ad- 
minister just judgment to all. If, heretofore, I 
have done aught but what was just, through headi- 
ness or negligence of youth, I am ready, with God’s 
help, to amend it utterly.” Jesus needs to add no 
such postscript to His declared purpose of ruling 


28 THE CHRIST OF PROPHECY 


with justice and with righteousness, for, as the 
four-and-twenty elders have affirmed of Him who 
sits upon the throne, “He is worthy.” “ With 
righteousness shall he judge the poor; and decide 
with equity for the meek of the earth. . . . Right- 
eousness shall be the girdle of his waist, and faith- 
fulness the girdle of his loins” (Isa. 11:4, 5). 

“The zeal of Jehovah of hosts will perform this.” 
Let us rejoice in the fact that God himself is back 
of the increase of the government of His Son. Its 
peace is as sure as His everlasting promise, and its 
righteousness is in keeping with His own character, 
while of His Christ, studied in the light of this text, 
we may sing with Richard Gilder: 


“ Behold Him now where He comes! 
Not the Christ of our subtle creeds, 
But the light of our hearts, of our homes, 
Of our hopes, our prayers, our needs; 
The brother of want and blame, 
The lover of women and men, 
With a love that puts to shame, 
All passions of mortal ken. 


“ Ah, no, Thou life of the heart, 
Never shalt Thou depart! 
Not till the leaven of God 
Shall lighten each human clod; 
Not till the world shall climb 
To Thy heights serene, sublime, 
Shall the Christ who enters our door 
Pass, to return no more.” 


II 
CHRIST, THE VIRGIN-BORN 


“ Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: 
When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, 
before they came together, she was found with child 
of the Holy Ghost. Then Joseph, her husband, being 
a just man, and not willing to make her a publick 
example, was minded to put her away privily, But 
while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of 
the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, 
Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee 
Mary thy wife: for that which ts conceived in her 1s 
of the Holy Ghost. And she shall bring forth a son, 
and thou shalt call his name Jesus: for he shall save 
his people from their sins.’—Marr, 1: 18-21, 


HE whole force of destructive criticism 

has been directed against the supernatural, 

whether that be found in the claims of 
sacred Scripture or in those of Jesus of Nazareth. 
The purpose of this criticism is to disprove the 
supernatural at every possible point. The so- 
called constructive criticism behaves little better. 
It expresses admiration for the Bible by way of 
introduction to objections to be raised against it; 
and it pays high compliment to Jesus of Naza- 
reth in order that its professed friendliness may 


29 


30 CHRIST, THE VIRGIN-BORN 


render its denial of His deity less offensive to the 
faithful. 

In the present discussion we propose a clear 
issue: Was Christ begotten by the Holy Ghost? 
The Scripture from which we start clearly and dis- 
tinctly answers that question, and yet there are 
those who dispute its authority. 

In answer to their objections I propose three 
lines of argument: 


I. THE FORCE OF OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY. 


This is the argument to which the Sacred writer 
himself appeals, ‘‘ Now all this was done that it 
might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord 
by the prophet.” Joseph Parker has said truly, 
“God does not work extemporaneously; the sud- 
denness of His movements is only apparent; every 
word He says comes up from eternity.” The 
good student of His movements will come upon 
types and shadows of things to come. That is 
not so much true of any other part of the entire 
book called “the Bible” as of that which pertains 
to the Christ. 

His coming was plainly predicted. “The Lord 
himself shall give you a sign: Behold, a virgin shall 
conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name 
Immanuel”’ (Isa. 7:14). ‘ For unto us a child is 
born, unto us a son is given: and the government 
shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be 
called Wonderful, Counsellor, the mighty God, the 


CHRIST, THE VIRGIN-BORN 31 


everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. Of the in- 
crease of his government and peace there shall be no 
end, upon the throne of David, and upon his king- 
dom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment 
and with justice from henceforth even forever”’ 
(Isa. 9:6-7). “ Behold, the Lord hath proclaimed 
unto the end of the world, Say ye to the daughter 
of Zion, Behold, thy salvation cometh: behold, his 
reward is with him, and his work before him” 
(Isa. 62:11). “ But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, 
though thou be little among the thousands of 
Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto 
me that is to be ruler in Israel: whose goings 
forth have been from of old, from everlasting ”’ 
(Micah 5:4). Zechariah had a vision of Him as 
He rode triumphantly into Jerusalem, and wrote, 
“ Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O 
daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh 
unto thee: he is just, and having salvation: lowly, 
and riding upon an ass and upon a colt the foal of 
an ass ”?(Zech, 9:9). 

The time will come when all men shall know the 
meaning of prophecy. Dr. Albert Barnes tells us 
that “ The visitor today looks on the site of ruined 
Petra, or the desolate scenes where once the city of 
Tyre spread out its bazaar-crowded thoroughfares, 
contemplates the waste places of Jerusalem, and 
hears the Jews at the ‘ weeping stone’ bewailing 
the destruction of their magnificent temple, wan- 
ders through the exhumed ruins of Nineveh and 


32 CHRIST, THE VIRGIN-BORN 


catches a glimpse of ‘ the wild beasts of the desert,’ 
the doleful creatures, the owls, that dwell in Baby- 
lon, and decides for himself whether the prophets 
‘spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost’ 
when they foretold the destinies of these great 
centers of life and activity.” 

The man who travels through the Old Testament 
Scriptures and studies the predictions regarding 
Messiah’s coming, and then looks on the Man of 
Nazareth, can also decide whether they found their 
fulfillment in Him. 

The man who invests his money in a mansion 
has a perfect right to compare the finished pile of 
stones and all the arrangements thereof, and all 
the material employed, with the drawings and 
specifications of the architect, and on condition 
that they answer point to point, accept the product; 
and the man who proposes to invest his faith in 
Jesus Christ has a right to study the Old Testa- 
ment plans and specifications concerning His com- 
ing and character and reject Him if He does not 
fill them up to the letter. 

The Old Testament prophets did more than pre- 
dict the coming of Christ. 

They predicted His character. He was to be “a 
righteous Branch”’ (Jer. 23:5). He was to “ love 
righteousness and hate wickedness” (Ps. 45:7). 
He was not to “cry, nor lift up, nor cause his 
voice to be heard in the street’’ (Isa. 42:2). He 
was to be “a prophet from among his brethren.” 


CHRIST, THE VIRGIN-BORN 33 


Jehovah's “ words were to be in his mouth,” and 
He should “speak all that Jehovah commanded 
him” (Deut. 18:18). He was to “bear our 
griefs ” and “carry our sorrows,” to be “ wounded 
for our transgressions” and “ bruised for our in- 
iquities,” “the chastisement of our peace was to be 
upon him,” and “ with his stripes” we were to be 
“healed” (Isa. 4-5). He was to be a “ priest for 
ever after the order of Melchizedek”’ (Ps. 110: 4). 
True, the critics have attacked these prophecies 
and have tried to disprove their authenticity and 
authority. The more surely Christ’s character has 
answered to these Old Testament descriptions feat- 
ure to feature, the more have they inveighed against 
them. And yet, as one asks, “ Which will you be- 
lieve—critic or Christ?’ Which appears to you as 
the more convincing, the marvelous agreement of 
Old Testament prophecy and New Testament his- 
tory, or the arrogant, unproven claims of Twen- 
tieth Century critics? | 
Charles A. Briggs, heretic as many regarded him, 
never so far lost his reasoning faculties as to forget 
the force of prophetic argument. He says, “ He- 
brew prophecy presents us a system of instruction 
which cannot be explained from the reflections of 
the human mind. It gives us a review of redemp- 
tion as the final goal of the world’s history which 
is heavenborn. . . . Hebrew prophecy vindicates 
its relation to accuracy, its comprehensive ideality 
as the conception of a Divine mind, as the deliver- 


34 CHRIST, THE VIRGIN-BORN 


ance of a Divine energy, as a system by holy men 
who ‘spake as they were moved by the Holy 
Ghost’; the Messiah of prophecy and the Messiah 
of history are not diverse but entirely harmonise in 
the Lamb who was ‘ foreordained before the foun- 
dation of the world, but was manifested in these 
latter times.’ ”’ | 

No wonder the apostle Peter wrote, “ We have 
also a more sure word of prophecy whereunto ye do 
well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth 
in a dark place, until the day dawn.” No wonder it 
is written again of Christ, ‘To him gave all the 
prophets witness.” Arthur T. Pierson said, “ No 
miracle which He wrought so unmistakably set on 
Him the seal of God as the convergence of the 
thousand lines of prophecy in Him, as in one burn- 
ing focal point of dazzling glory. Every sacrifice 
lit from Abel’s altar until the last passover of the 
passion week pointed as with flaming fingers to - 
Calvary’s cross! Nay, all the centuries moved as 
in solemn procession to lay their tributes upon 
Golgotha.” 

These prophecies even promise His accomplish- 
ments. He was to be “the prophet of the Lord.” 
He was to be “a priest forever after the order of 
Melchizedek ” (Ps. 110:4). He was to be a King 
reigning “in righteousness’ (Isa. 32:1). He was 
to “delight” in the will of God (Ps. 40:8). 
“ The Spirit of the Lord” was to “ rest upon him, 
the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit 


CHRIST, THE VIRGIN-BORN 35 


of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and 
of the fear of the Lord” (Isa. 11:2). He was to 
be “anointed” to “preach good tidings unto the 
meek,” sent to “ bind up the broken-hearted, to pro- 
claim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the 
prison to them that are bound; to proclaim the ac- 
ceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance 
of our God; to comfort all that mourn.” In His 
day “ the eyes of them that see shall not be dim, and 
the ears of them that hear shall hearken. The heart 
also of the rash shall understand knowledge, and 
the tongue of the stammerers shall be ready to 
speak plainly” (Isa. 61: 1, 2 and 32: 3-4). 

Dr. Lorimer has portrayed, by a striking illustra- 
tion sketched in contrast, Christ’s battle with evil, 
“The battle which Miltiades waged on the plain of 
Marathon on behalf of Hellenic freedom was one 
of the most salient and far-reaching events in the 
cycle of human history. It not only decided the 
destiny of Athens, but it preserved Europe from 
the heavy chains of Asiatic slavery. Had it not 
been for Marathon, freedom would have expired. 
. . . Athens would have failed to be what she was 
to her own citizens, and though the Roman power 
might have spread over the world had Athenian 
civilisation been different, the Empire, untutored by 
Greek genius, would not have been the purveyor of 
arts as well as arms, of letters as well as laws to 
mankind. But still far easier would it have been 
for a sagacious statesman, standing in the region of 


36 CHRIST, THE VIRGIN-BORN 


the Tetrapolis, or surveying the field from Mount 
Pentelicus, and reflecting on the defeat of the Per- 
sians, to anticipate and describe the results, com- 
prehensive and wide-sweeping as they were fated 
to prove, of that glorious disaster, than it would 
have been for the most gifted and foreseeing of the 
race to imagine, much less to predict, the ultimate 
effect on society, government and humanity of that 
stern, sharp conflict between the Son of God and 
the hosts of darkness which gave to history the 
Christian religion.”’ 

And yet the effect produced by Christ in it all 
was foreseen, was foretold, and the man who denies 
that Jesus Christ was begotten by the Holy Ghost 
must tell us how it happened that His accomplish- 
ments were promised hundreds of years before the 
“babe wrapped in swaddling clothes” was laid in 
the manger at Bethlehem, or before the Man capa- 
ble of opening the eyes of the blind, unstopping the 
ears of the deaf, releasing the prisoner from his 
dungeon, bringing the acceptable year of the Lord 
had put in an appearance? We count it something 
of a marvel that modern science can tell us forty- 
eight hours in advance what changes will take place 
in the weather. How, then, can men do less than 
stand amazed before the work of those who, a thou- 
sand years before the event, promised the coming, 
predicted the character and described the accom- 
plishments of Jesus of Nazareth? What is the 
explanation? Only this, that the same Spirit who 


CHRIST, THE VIRGIN-BORN 37 


begat Him spake through these souls of Old Testa- 
ment time. 
I call attention to the second line of argument: 


II. THE AFFIRMATION OF NEW TESTAMENT 
WRITERS 


The sayings of these writers.of the New T'esta- 
ment cannot be ignored. And what is the purport 
of them? 

They declare that He was the Son of the Most 
High, ‘‘ Now the birth of Jesus was on this wise; 
When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, 
before they came together, she was found with 
child of the Holy Ghost” (Matt. 1:18). Luke’s 
report is, “ The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, 
and the power of the Highest shall overshadow 
thee; therefore also that holy thing which shall 
be born of thee shall be called the Son of God” 
(Luke 1:35). 

It is not necessary for one to explain how this 
came to pass. The Spirit of God is not subject to 
our psychological limitations. Jesus himself said of 
Him, “ The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou 
hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence 
it cometh, and whither it goeth; so is every one that 
is born of the Spirit” (John 3:8). Christ was 
only the first begotten and the same Spirit begets 
many another. 

No man can explain his own spiritual birth. 
Why, then, should we attempt to explain the beget- 


38 CHRIST, THE VIRGIN-BORN 


ting of Jesus? If God could create man in the first 
place why should it be thought a thing incredible 
that He should, by His own will, have begotten the 
man Jesus? That He was the Son of God, Christ 
Himself never questioned. I met a Jew a while ago 
who told me that ‘‘ Jesus never dreamed He was the 
Son of God; that was a claim which had been 
trumped up by the New Testament writers.” Why, 
then, did Jesus speak of ‘‘ My Father who is in 
heaven”? How did He dare to say, “I and my 
Father are one”? When they asked Him, “ Art 
thou the Son of God?” why should He have re- 
plied, “ Ye say it; lam”? “ No man cometh unto 
the Father but by me.” ‘ No man knoweth the 
Father save the Son and he to whomsoever the Son 
will reveal him.” 

Take His miracles; they are an evidence of 
His sense of Divine Sonship. To the leprous, 
“T will, be thou clean”; to the storm, ‘‘ Peace, 
be still’’; to His disciples, “‘ Heal the sick, cleanse 
the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils, freely 
ye have received, freely give”; to Lazarus, 
“ Come forth.” 

Take His teachings: “ Moses said unto you” so 
and so, “ But J say unto you.” And again, “ Ver- 
ily, verily J say unto you.” His word is that of 
One of conscious authority. Take His expression 
—‘“ Thy sins are forgiven thee.” Who dares say 
that but God? Blasphemy indeed it would have 
been on the lips of another. Think of His state- 


CHRIST, THE VIRGIN-BORN 39 


ment to Peter, “ Upon this rock I will build my 
church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against 
it.’ Think of His words regarding Jerusalem, “ O 
Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how often would I have 
gathered thee as a hen gathers her chickens under 
her wings and ye would not!” Think of His com- 
prehensive words of authority, “ All power is given 
unto me in heaven and in earth.” 

His disciples believed Him to be the Son of God, 
“ 7ineas, Jesus Christ maketh thee whole,’ was 
Peter’s statement. ‘“‘In the name of Jesus Christ, 
arise and walk,’ was the word to the man at the 
gate. Devils believed Him to be the Son of God: 
“ Jesus, thou son of God,” was the very phrase by 
which they addressed Him. ‘‘ Why hast thou come 
to torment us before our time?”’ was the fear they 
expressed in His presence, and felt at the sight of 
His face. ‘The centurion, seeing Him die, said, 
“Truly this man was the Son of God.” Are pro- 
fessed Christians to be more sceptical than wicked 
men and devils? 

Yet He was born to Mary—Joseph’s wife. 
Christ was a man, essentially a man. Flesh clothed 
His bones; blood filled His veins. Had you put 
your ear to His heart it would have beat as the 
heart of any other man in life; had you counted 
His pulse it would have been normal. Who knows 
but the world has missed the normal pulse by not 
having taken that of Christ? When Daniel had his 
marvelous vision “‘ He saw, and behold, one like the 


40 CHRIST, THE VIRGIN-BORN 


Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and 
came to the Ancient of days, and there was given 
him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all 
people, nations, and languages should serve him; 
his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which 
shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which 
shall not be destroyed.’’ When the heavens opened 
and a voice was heard out of it saying, “ This is my 
beloved Son in whom I am well-pleased,” and when 
the Spirit descended upon Him in the shape of a 
dove, it was a man that stood in the waters saying 
to John, “ Suffer it to be so now, for so it becom- 
eth us to fulfill all righteousness ’’°—a man born 
of woman. | 

Joseph Parker has sagely said, “‘ His mother was 
no imaginary Mary. This literal history was re- 
quired in order to vindicate her memory from the 
charge of her being a merely dramatic woman. 
She lived the common human life, wept the com- 
mon tears, enjoyed the same enjoyments that fall 
to the lot of all. There is enough said about her in 
the Gospels to prove the poor human nature of the 
woman, and little enough said about her not to 
magnify her into a feminine god.’ The people who 
attempt to make her anything more than a woman 
are thereby detracting from the perfect humanity of 
Christ. It was “the seed of woman” that was to 
“bruise the serpent’s head,” and Jesus of Nazareth 
was such. 

So, then, begotten by the Holy Ghost and born of 


CHRIST, THE VIRGIN-BORN 41 


man, He was God and man. Who can explain this? 
“Great is the mystery of godliness.” You receive 
more things upon statement than you ever believe 
by reason of demonstration. All history attests 
that, somehow, Jesus of Nazareth had the form and 
flesh and blood of man but the brain and heart and 
character of God. There is little occasion for 
either “if” in the lines— 


“Tf Jesus Christ is a man, 
And only a man, I say, 
Of all mankind I will cleave to Him, 
And to Him I will cleave alway. 


“Tf Jesus Christ is a God, 
And the very God, I swear, 
I will follow Him through heaven or hell, 
The earth, the sea, or the air.” 


But there is a third line of argument, namely— 


Ill. THE TEST OF ACHIEVEMENTS. 


His character is the incomparable One. No 
other man ever walked the earth who could face 
even his enemies and say, “* Which of you con- 
vinceth me of sin?” No other man ever lived of 
whom his disciples could say, “ He was tempted 
in all points like as we are, yet without sin.” It 
is no more the precepts of Jesus that win men 
to Him than it is the practice. The incomparable 
character of Jesus Christ is as powerful as His 
Gospel. ‘‘ Whose preaching was it that led to 


A2 CHRIST, THE VIRGIN-BORN 


your conversion?’’ was asked of one who had 
just come into salvation. The answer was sig- 
nificant, “It was nobody’s preaching, it was my 
mother’s practicing.”’ 

What would happen in this world if all those 
who have named the name of Jesus Christ began to 
keep themselves unspotted from the world I shall 
not attempt to say, but I do dare to affirm that the 
spotless life of Jesus Christ is the one secret power 
of drawing men and women unto Himself. It is in 
vain that the sinner confesses to a sinful fellow- 
mortal and hears from his lips the words promising 
absolution. But to approach One who Himself 
never sinned, and to ask Him to become your advo- 
cate before God, is to name an intercessor who shall 
secure Divine favour. No wonder Isaac Watts 
could sing: 


“With joy we meditate the grace 
Of our High Priest above: 
His heart is full of tenderness ; 
His bosom glows with love. 


“Touched with a sympathy within, 
He knows our feeble frame; 
He knows what sore temptations mean, 
For He has felt the same. 


“He, in the days of feeble flesh, 
Poured out His cries and tears, 
And in His measure feels afresh 
What every member bears. 


CHRIST, THE VIRGIN-BORN 43 


“Then let our humble faith address 
His mercy and His power ; 
We shall obtain delivering grace 
In each distressing hour.” 


His achievements demand explanation. The 
marvel about Jesus Christ is not that He claimed so 
much but that He accomplished more. The Old 
Testament writers spake of “One to come who 
should open the eyes of the blind, heal the sick, and 
raise the dead.” Wherever Jesus walked the most 
faithful reports indicate that the blind received 
their sight, lepers were cleansed, and never once 
before an open grave, or bier, did His word of 
command “Come forth” fail. Explain it, will 
you? ‘Tell me, how did it happen that this man, 
living among a people of ignorance, was Himself 
enlightened ; dwelling with the intolerant, was yet 
free from every arrogance; consorting with the 
harsh, was yet full of tenderness; in daily touch 
with the impotent, was yet possessed of all power? 

Montgomery spoke truly when he said, 


“When, like a stranger on our sphere, 
The lowly Jesus wandered here, 
Where’er He went, affliction fled, 
And sickness reared her fainting head. 


“The eye that rolled in irksome night, 
Beheld His face—for God is light ; 
The opening ear, the loosened tongue, 
His precepts heard, His praises sung. 


4:4, CHRIST, THE VIRGIN-BORN 


“ With bounding steps the halt and lame, 
To hail their great Deliverer came; 
O’er the cold grave He bowed His head, 
He spake the word, and raised the dead.” 


Explain it. Let some man stand up and tell us 
why no other mortal ever wrought such deeds. 
Truly, as Renan confesses, “ It would take a Jesus 
to forge a Jesus.” If He was not a forger how do 
you account for Him? What better can you do 
than Matthew has done, say—‘‘ He was begotten 
by the Holy Ghost ’’? 

But His indisputable credential is His saving 
power. It was a marvel when fever was rebuked 
by His word, it was a marvel when the Gadarene 
was dispossessed of devils! But His matchless sen- 
tence was “Thy sins are forgiven thee.” His 
matchless power was the impartation of peace and 
purity to the soul of man! 

Have you ever thought upon this phrase, “ Thou 
shalt call his name Jesus”? Joseph Parker says, 
“Christ is the only man known in history who was 
born with special reference to the sins of the human 
family. He does not come into the race with small 
programs. The world is sick of men with pro- 
grams an inch long.” ‘There are plenty of men all 
about us with small programs and abbreviated 
plans. There is the man who can shine your shoes; 
there is another who can shave your face; there is 
another who can clothe your form; there is another 


CHRIST, THE VIRGIN-BORN 45 


who can construct your house; there is another who 
can stir your ambition. But where is the man who 
can save me from my sins? Who can take all the 
disordered machinery of life and put me to rights 
_and set me to running for God and with God? In 
old Nazareth He was; in heaven He is; in earth He 
shall be! Aye, by His Spirit, here now, today, with 
the sole desire and purpose of salvation! 

I have read, somewhere, the story of that man 
who, on a Sabbath day at an English seaport town, 
saw a vessel tossed by the rising storm, and heard 
the cry, “ A man overboard.’ Looking out he saw 
brave rowers speeding toward him, and yet the man 
sank, and as he went down the on-looker saw one 
running down the beach, his face white with excite- 
ment, his eyes filled with anguish, and pointing to 
where the waves had just covered the head of the 
sinking man, he cried, “ Save him! Save him! A 
thousand pounds to the man who saves him! He is 
my brother!” But the appeal was in vain, the re- 
morseless waves were doing their work, the rowers 
had fallen short, for he was sinking but a few boat- 
lengths away! 

But, beloved, when Peter on Gennesaret, found 
the waves parting beneath his feet and saw himself 
suddenly engulfed, his cry was directed to Jesus of 
Nazareth, “ Lord save, or I perish!”’ and instantly 
His hand shot out and laid hold upon the doomed 
apostle and lifted him up. He is able to save! 
Will you put your trust in Him? I meet people 


46 CHRIST, THE VIRGIN-BORN 


every day who tell me they have long intended to do 
this. A purpose put into no practice is worthless. 
“ Behold, now is the time accepted ; behold, today is 
the day of salvation.’’ Jesus stands ready to re- 
spond, and is able to save. 


Il 
THE CHILDHOOD OF CHRIST 


“ And the child grew, and waxed strong m spsrst, 
filled with wisdom: and the grace of God was upon 
him,’—LvuKE 2: 40. 


speculation. Apocryphal gospels there are 

which narrate the most marvelous and un- 
imaginable things as the experience and acts of the 
wonderful Nazarene lad. But the true Gospel 
passes full thirty years in a silence broken but a 
single time, and that time is clearly recorded in 
Luke 2:40-52. A solitary glimpse of Jesus, but a 
significant one. 

The remarks made concerning His growth are 
significant. His attendance upon the feast of the 
tabernacles was significant. His place in the temple 
was significant. His questions and answers before 
the Sanhedrin were significant. His ready yielding 
to His parents and His implicit obedience were 
significant. 

While it may seem most unnatural to pass 
through this great and potential period of youth 
with only this solitary reference to it all, it is most 
natural and even most wise to give us the glimpse 


47 


As childhood of Jesus is a subject of easy 


48 THE CHILDHOOD OF CHRIST 


of Him at twelve years of age when He was 
passing from boyhood to manhood, at the mo- 
ment when those emotions that make up life 
were beginning to stir every part of His being, 
perhaps the time when the very plans of life itself 
were being unfolded to Him by His heavenly 
Father. Then He let us look at His face just once. 
What a lad! 

Frederick W. Farrar, in his “ Life of Christ,” 
tells us that when the moon is in crescent a few 
bright spots are visible through the telescope upon 
its unilluminated part ; those bright spots are moun- 
tain peaks, so lofty that they catch the sunlight. 
And then he remarks, “One such point of splen- 
dour and majesty is revealed to us in the otherwise 
unknown region of Christ’s youthful years, and it 
is sufficient to furnish us with a real insight into 
that entire portion of His life.” 

Consenting with Dean Farrar, I call your atten- 


tion to some suggestions of the Scripture Luke 
2: 40-52. 


I. THE NATURAL GROWTH. 


The remark ‘“ The child grew, and waxed strong 
in spirit, filled with wisdom, and the grace of God 
was upon him” undoubtedly looks to a natural 
three-fold division of life—physical, mental and 
spiritual. He was approaching a manhood which 
should come to the full, He was not to be a one- 
sided man, all physique and hence beastly; all intel- 


THE CHILDHOOD OF CHRIST 49 


lect and hence a book-worm, or all devotion and 
hence a bald monk. 

The Young Men’s Christian Associations have 
insisted that there is a four-fold development of 
life, physical, social, intellectual and spiritual. I 
think we will find even this in the text, for before 
we shall have finished we will see that Jesus in- 
creased not alone in wisdom and “in favour with 
God,” but also “in favour with man.” 

lis growth in stature reveals His true humanity. 
Paul, in writing to the Hebrews, makes a very sig- 
nificant remark. Quoting from Isaiah—“ Here am 
I, and the children whom thou hast given me,” the 
Apostle adds, ‘‘ For as much, then, as the children 
are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself 
likewise took part of the same.” 

The humanity of Jesus is absolutely essential to 
His priesthood for, as the same apostle writes to the 
same people, “ We have not an high priest which 
cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmi- 
ties, but was in all points tempted like as we are, 
yet without sin. Let us, therefore, come boldly to 
the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and 
find grace to help in time of need” (Heb. 4: 15). 

I have no question myself but that His humanity 
was not only real but robust, and that this text is 
our Scriptural warrant for such a statement. He 
“ grew” in stature! Dr. Campbell Morgan, plead- 
ing for the physical prowess of Jesus, says, “ When 
will some inspired artist give us a true picture of 


50 THE CHILDHOOD OF CHRIST 


this glorious Man? He is almost always depicted 
as frail in physical form and lacking in bodily 
beauty. Perhaps the German artist Hoffmann has 
come nearest to the true ideal. ‘There is no beauty 
that we should desire him,’ but the prophet did not 
mean that He would be devoid of beauty, rather 
that men should not recognise it. We strenuously 
hold that He was perfect in physical form and pro- 
portion. The body is the outward and visible sign 
of the inward and invisible spirit, and the perfect 
spirit of Jesus would form a perfect physical taber- 
nacle in which He passed the probationary life.”’ 

Visitors to the First Baptist Church, Minneapo- 
lis, who walk into one of the social rooms will see 
on the wall Mrs. Wayland Hoyt’s painting of the 
Christ. It is Dr. Morgan’s conception, a man 
of enormous proportions; the fullness of whose 
strength is suggested by every full-rounded muscle, 
yet the refinement of whose nature is distinctly 
painted into every feature of the great face. 
“Know ye not that ye are the temple of the Holy 
Ghost?” And is it not of the religion of Christ 
that the physical growth of the child should have 
the utmost care, and that a sound body should be 
reckoned as the best seat of a sound mind and a 
healthy soul? 

But, as we have already suggested: 

There was a social side to Christ’s life. The lad 
_ of twelve was growing in another direction “in 
favour with men.” I am glad that this phrase 


THE CHILDHOOD OF CHRIST 51 


appears in Luke’s report. It tends to present the 
two sides of Jesus character, two sides which some 
people believe cannot exist in the one and same 
man—sweetness and strength, kindness and cour- 
age, personal attractiveness and professional repul- 
sion. It is not difficult to imagine that the little 
children of Nazareth ran in and out of His shop 
for the pure pleasure of His smiles, that the young 
men and maidens often dropped into the same to 
hear His hearty greetings, to uncover to Him some 
secret of life or love which they would not share 
with another, and get His kindly counsel, and that 
even old men and women who watched His growth 
from infancy to manhood often remarked on Him‘ 
in the language of ardent admiration. 

It was only when He left the private life and 
went into the public; it was only when He could no 
longer exercise His personal graces, but delivered 
His professional and divinely appointed soul, it was 
only when to save the world He loved so much 
from death and hell, He had to speak of sin and 
show what it was, and what it would do in the lives 
of men, that both Gentile and Jew commenced to 
hate Him, commenced to overlook all His natural 
kindliness, to disregard His tender love, to misin- 
terpret His warning speech, and finally to plead for 
His crucifixion. 

But if any man, reading the story of this antag- 
onism, concludes that Christ must have been a very 
unattractive, repellent individual, let him turn back 


52 THE CHILDHOOD OF CHRIST 


to this text and be corrected. He was a delightful 
companion. In private life men and women only 
knew Him to love Him. As He increased in age 
the circle of His friends widened, and when He 
closed the carpenter’s shop for Jordan and the bap- 
tism of John, doubtless the most popular man that 
had ever lived in Nazareth left the village of His 
boyhood to begin the most unpopular career upon 
which a courageous soul was ever sent. 

In the enlargement of Christ’s life the intellect 
was prominent. “He grew in wisdom.” Evi- 
dently that growth was not a normal one; evidently 
it was not such as the majority of the Jewish lads 
had revealed. Before His day other lads had 
shown strength, had either said or done remark- 
able things at this very age of puberty. The old 
Jewish legends tell that Moses had left the house 
of Pharaoh at that time, that such was Samuel 
when he heard the voice summoning him to the 
prophet’s office, that Solomon was also twelve 
years of age when he had given a judgment that 
made for wisdom, and Joseph, at about the same 
age, had his first dream of what he was destined to 
accomplish. “The child” is, truly, “ father to the 
man.’ Almost every lad at twelve is the prophecy 
of his own later life. The day does not break into 
full noon, there are the dawnings and the rising of 
the sun, but the man who studies the first can easily 
prophecy what is coming. A lightning flash is dif- 
ferent, it breaks out unexpectedly; it illuminates 


THE CHILDHOOD OF CHRIST 53 


with a glory beyond the sun; its brilliance is such 
as to compel the attention of all men. We are told 
that the second coming of Christ shall be like the 
lightning. The first appearance was the dawning 
of a new day. 

Men have debated and will, when Christ became 
conscious of His deity. It is not a subject for dog- 
matism. It does seem, however, that at twelve 
years of age He either perfectly understood, or else 
had begun to understand. Happy the boy who thus 
early in life becomes conscious that God is in him, 
and gladly consents to the indwelling Spirit, and 
feels as Jesus felt the power of the same, so that 
He can say, “J must do the will of the Father.” 
If there is one thing in which I believe as the result 
of personal, mental, and emotional experience, any 
one thing which is an absolute necessity of all chil- 
dren of God, it is in the compelling voice, quicken- 
ing the man, determining the will, pointing the way, 
namely, the voice of God. 

Evidently also the devotion of spirit was keeping 
pace, for “ The grace of God was upon him.” This 
Scripture suggests something other than the rites 
and ceremonies of the Jewish people, something 
more than the fact that He knew He was the child 
of circumcision; something beyond His familiarity 
with the Jewish traditions; something beyond His 
conscious kinship with Abraham and Isaac and 
Jacob; something beyond the formality of the 
phrase that is spoken to the effect that as “‘ He had 


54 THE CHILDHOOD OF CHRIST 


been joined to the covenant so might it also be to 
him in regard to the law and to good works.” 

This phrase compasses a communion between the 
Son and Father, between the child Jesus and the in- 
finite God. No wonder Ernest Renan says of Jesus 
“ He has no visions; God does not speak to Him as 
to one outside himself; God is in Him; He feels He 
is close to God; He draws from His own heart all 
that He saw of the Father; He lives in the bosom of 
God by contact at every moment; hears, Him with- 
out need of thunder or burning bush like Moses, or 
revealing tempest like Job, or oracle like the old 
Greek sages, or familiar genius like Socrates, or the 
angel Gabriel like Mahomet.” 

That grace of God which was upon ran was the 
personal consciousness of God in Him, and God 
with Him. ‘This is the way to develop devotion of 
spirit. We may attend church as often as we like, 
we may pray all night if we please, we may even | 
enter the closet and “ shut to the door ” and thereby 
literally fulfill the Saviour’s injunction of secrecy, 
but unless somehow we get into the Divine presence 
and know the meaning of the phrase “ with God”’ 
it is vain. 

“Tn the secret of His presence 
How my soul delights to hide. 


Oh, how precious are the moments 
Which I spend at Jesus’ side,” 


is a hymn which has always appealed to me as one 


THE CHILDHOOD OF CHRIST 55 


that must have been voiced by a soul en rapport 
with God, but 


“A little talk with Jesus 
Makes it right, all right,”’ 


has always had a jingle of insincerity, not alone 
because of the jangle in tune, but largely because of 
the lightness with which the subject is treated. “A 
little talk with Jesus! ”’—That is the curse of the 
Church of God! Christ was in constant commun- 
ion with the Father. Oh, that as Christians we 
might be in constant communication with Christ. 
It is the only way to have the grace of God in 
Christ. 


II. THE SUPERNATURAL WISDOM. 


The incident of Christ’s remaining in Jerusalem 
when the parents departed for home results in 
their return. 

What a scene! A twelve-year-old in the Temple, 
“ sitting in the midst of the doctors, both hearing 
them and asking them questions,’ and the remark 
—“ All that heard him were astonished at his 
answers.” 

The Temple was His preferred school.. The 
posture was the posture of a student—“ sitting.” 
How different from the modern idea. Many of the 
twelve-year-old lads and lasses are now being made 
familiar with temples of vice; the picture show, the 
dance hall, the theatre,—these are modern institu- 


56 THE CHILDHOOD OF CHRIST 


tions, and men tell us that they have their ‘ educa- 
tional features.” Truly! But they are out of all 
harmony with Christ’s education. For His educa- 
tion He went to the Temple of God. The public 
school is all right in its place; secular information 
is not a sin; to know science is to know how God 
does His work in the natural world. But when men 
separate the School and the Temple, secularise the 
latter and flout the former, they are destroying the 
foundations of society. 

Has it not occurred to you that the great men of 
the past have grown in the Temple of God? Not 
only its great prophets, but its great discoverers, its 
great inventors, its great scientists. Columbus was 
a church man, Livingstone learned much in the 
House of God. Men of letters have learned much 
there. Shakespeare was able to quote copiously 
from the Scriptures, and the temple in which he 
used to worship is still standing in Stratford-on- 
Avon. Carlyle was a child of the Church; let no 
modern scientist imagine that his predecessors were 
atheists, or even infidels. Call the roll :—Galileo, 
Kepler, Faraday, Henry, all trouped forth from the 
Temple of God. If you want reformers you will 
bring them from the same secret presence. Luther 
and Huss, Knox and Savonarola received not alone 
their inspiration, but much of their education there. 
The day when the Temple of God no longer plays a 
part in the education of the youth will be the same 
as the day in which this child Christ will no longer 


& 


THE CHILDHOOD OF CHRIST 57 


be regarded as an ensample to children, and that day 
will sound the death knell of the education that is 
worth while. | 

Mark again: Doctors of Divinity were Hts 
chosen teachers. For He sat “in the midst of the 
doctors; both hearing them and asking them ques- 
tions.” ‘These were not catch questions! ‘These 
were not questions propounded to reveal His supe- 
rior wisdom. ‘These were questions of the earnest 
student who gave audience to His elders, and then 
to bring further information He plied them with 
questions. 

There are people in the world, now, who imagine 
that the poorest place we can go for information is 
to the feet of the “ Parson,” as they call him. It 
might be well for such to remember what part the 
Doctors of Divinity have played in the whole edu- 
cational scheme. It might be well to remember that 
these are the men who laid the foundations of 
Oxford, of Harvard, of Yale, of Brown and of 
Princeton, and that more of these men have been 
presidents and hold professorships than come from 
any other walk of life. It was truly a dark day for 
Harvard when she had as President a man who 
ruled the Bible out of his five feet of essential 
books. Boys graduating from the feet of such 
scholars, even though they be named “ Doctors of 
Divinity,” are destined to greatness only on the con- 
dition of parting company with their professors. 

It is not difficult to see why Samuel became a 


58 THE CHILDHOOD OF CHRIST 


noted man in Israel. In the Temple and at the 
feet of Eli he learned. It is not hard to imagine 
how Spurgeon became England’s most prominent 
preacher ; on the knees of Dr. Knill, and from many 
other great students and teachers in the Church of 
God he took his great lessons, and in truth, never 
did he feel the need of another or better college 
than that which provided for the coming of these 
men to his father’s house. 

Is it not a strange sight, the modern school, sup- 
ported in no considerable part by the money of men 
and women who love God and believe His Word, 
conducted now without a reference to His Holy 
Name? Almost anything permitted to enter its 
halls except His holy Word, and almost any sub- 
ject under heaven, high or low, exalting or debas- 
ing, presented to the student-body save Christian- 
ity. Rum stains the escutcheon of the nation. 
Rome has almost removed her foundation stone. 

And yet further, remember, His understanding 
was an amazement. “They that heard him were 
astonished at his answers.” ‘There had been bright 
lads before this lad appeared in Jerusalem, but there 
had been no lad like Him. There had been pre- 
cocious youths, a multitude, previous to Jesus; no 
one of them had produced the impression upon the 
Sanhedrin that He was making, without ostenta- 
tion, perhaps without even consciousness on His 
own part that He had accomplished it. He com- 
pelled the admiration of this circle of wise men and 


THE CHILDHOOD OF CHRIST 59 


left them in a dumb amazement at the wisdom of 
which the remark of later days would have been 
true even then, ‘ We never heard it on this wise.” 

Yes, there is so much in the life of Christ that is 
inexplicable that those who deny His deity are 
dumb in His presence. There is but one explana- 
tion! ‘Truly, in the language of Carnegie Simpson, 
“He is beyond our analyses. He confounds our 
canons of human nature. He compels our criticism 
_to over-leap itself. He awes our spirits.” There is 
a saying of Charles Lamb which is responded to by 
a very deep feeling within the heart of every true 
student of Christ, “If Shakespeare was to come 
into this room we should all rise up to meet him, 
but if Christ came we should all fall down and try 
to kiss the hem of His garment.” 


III. THE UNNATURAL SUBJECTION. 


The reproof from His mother was gently given 
(vs. 48-52). ‘ Son ”’—it is introduced with a word 
of affection—‘“ why hast thou thus dealt with us?” 
It is a question sincerely put with the expectation of 
an answer. “ Thy father and I have sought thee, 
sorrowing.’ It is a revelation of her love. Oh, 
wise mother! A lad had behaved badly in the 
presence of company. The mother looked at Him, 
but said not a word. Later she called Him aside 
and in a secret conference, with no one looking on 
to see the blush mantling the little cheeks, she told 
Him how it hurt, and how badly it looked. 


60 THE CHILDHOOD OF CHRIST 


A friend of John Adams told him he had found 
out who made him, by the reading of his mother’s 
published letters. Many a man has been compelled 
to confess that the gentle, wise mother was God’s 
wonderful agency for the formation of his life. 
We have the testimony of many of earth’s greatest 
in this matter. Suppose we listen to them while 
two of its most eloquent talk to us about it. 

John Ruskin says, ‘‘ My mother steeped my soul 
in the knowledge of the Sacred Scriptures. I have 
just opened my oldest Bible. My mother’s list of 
chapters with which she established me in life has 
just fallen out of it, and truly this maternal instal- 
lation of my mind with those chapters I count the 
most precious, and on the whole, the most essential 
part of my education.” 

Let Tennyson sing of his sainted mother. In 
“The Princess ” he tells the story of his admiration 
for the woman who bore him and at the same time 
reveals her character. 


“ Yet was there one thro’ whom I loved her, one 
Not learned, save in gracious household ways, 
Not perfect, nay, but full of tender wants, 

No Angel, but a dearer being, all dipt 

In Angel instincts, breathing Paradise, 
Interpreter between the gods and men, 

Who look’d all native to her place, and yet 

On tiptoe seem’d to touch upon a sphere 

Too gross to tread, and all male minds perforce 
Sway’d to her from their orbits as they moved, 
And girdled her with music. Happy he 


THE CHILDHOOD OF CHRIST 61 


With such a mother! faith in womankind 

Beats with his blood, and trust in all things high 
Comes easy to him, and tho’ he trip and fall 

He shall not blind his soul with clay.” 


I am glad that Christ was a mother’s child, and 
that Mary lives, a mother’s ensample. 

Mark His reply—It was firm but gracious. 
“Wist ye not that I must be about my Father’s 
business?’ I love that word “ must.” I believe in 
men who do things because they are compelled to do 
them, who do them because they cannot do other- 
wise; men who choose a certain path because they 
have heard Christ say, “ This is the way, walk ye 
in it’; who face certain tasks because the Father 
demands it; who walk even to Calvary if that be 
His will; who fail not, even in Gethsemane, but 
conclude their agony with the cry, “ Not my will, 
but thine, be done.” 

There is in that word the sound of a holy neces- 
sity. ‘The man who can choose one path as well as 
another, the man who can please one party as well 
as another, the man who tries to please all parties, 
is a poor excuse of manhood and as far removed 
from the Man of Nazareth as the poles of the earth 
are apart. 

Thank God for the statement “I must.’ There 
are some things we may do, but oh, there are other 
things we must do or lose out with God, and those 
are the things that involve “ the Father’s business.” 
That is my business! 


62 THE CHILDHOOD OF CHRIST 


Finally, His subserviency was surprising. “ And 
he went down with them and came to Nazareth, and 
was subject unto them.” What a strange subjec- 
tion, the subjection of the superior to the inferior! 
And yet that unnatural subjection was a further 
revelation of the unusual character. The lad of the 
truly great heart, the girl whose brain is blessedly — 
developed, these may know more than their parents 
but they never parade it, they refuse even to think 
it, they give it no place in their feelings; to voice it 
is the last thing they would do. It is only a little 
man that wants to be forever giving orders. It is 
only a cramped and contracted life that is forever 
demanding allegiance and obedience. ‘The man who 
lives in the large, as Christ lived, the man who looks 
upon all things and sees clearly, the man who is 
worthy to command, he is the man who stands 
ready to obey. For such the law of the Lord is not 
a hardship. David could say, “I will walk at lib- 
erty for I seek thy precepts.” 

Within the limits of His mother’s will and his 
father’s desire Christ found sufficient liberty, and 
yet He found delight, for, as Farrar remarks, “ His 
self-subjection to them was all the more glorious in 
proportion to the greatness of the self-subjected.” 
When will men learn that “ ‘To obey is better than 
sacrifice ’’ ? 


IV 
CHRIST) THE THACHER 


“Rabbi, we know that thow are a teacher come 
from God.”—Joun 3:2. 


HRIST, the ‘Teacher, is an appropriate sub- 
C ject for students of the New Testament, for 
we must remember that teaching was one 
of the prominent traits of His earth-life as well 
as one of the most important functions of His 
matchless ministry. Many of those who came to 
Him addressed Him as “ Teacher,’ and in so 
doing they spake better than they knew, for in- 
deed He was, as Nicodemus said, “‘a teacher come 
from God.” 

Before Him Cicero had been in Rome, Socrates, 
Plato and Aristotle had stimulated Greek students 
by their instruction, and contemporaneous with 
Him, Gamaliel taught among the Jews; and yet, if 
all the ages past and all the ages to come could have 
been brought together in Jesus’ time, He would still 
be worthy of the title “ The Teacher,” because of a 
truth ‘ never man spake like this man.” 

It is my purpose to call your attention to some 
respects in which Christ effectively illustrated 
our text. 

63 


64 CHRIST, THE TEACHER 


I. HIS UTTERANCE WAS WITH AUTHORITY. 


If we turn to Mark’s Gospel, first chapter, 


twenty-second verse, we find Jesus in a synagogue 
of Capernaum on the Sabbath day, teaching, and it 
is said of what He taught, “ They were astonished 


at his doctrine; for he taught them as one that had 


authority, and not as the scribes.” If we look into 
Matthew’s Gospel, seventh chapter, twenty-eighth 
verse, we are at the end of the longest discourse 
Christ ever delivered, at least so far as the inspired 
reports of His sermons inform us. ‘This sermon 
was delivered on the mountain-side and begins with 
the fifth chapter of Matthew and ends at the close 
of the seventh with the words “‘ And it came to pass 
that when Jesus had ended these sayings, the people 
were astgnished at his doctrine; for he taught them 
as one having authority, and not as the scribes.” 
What else would we expect from the Son of God 
than that He should so speak? He with whom wis- 
dom is, needs not to be trained in poor schools and 
taught the traditions of the fathers and made famil- 
iar with the speeches of the so-called great in order 


that He may speak. Henry van Dyke, in “The > 


Gospel for an Age of Doubt,” says, “ He did not 
make a long catena of quotations from learned 
sources.’ “ He was not a commentator on truths 
already revealed. He was a Revealer of new truth. 
His teaching was not the exposition; it was the 
text... . He gave out His doctriné from the 
depths of His own consciousness as a flower 


“\ 


CHRIST, THE TEACHER 65 


breathes perfume—fresh, pure, original and con- 
vincing.” “His teaching is neither ancient nor 
modern, neither deductive, nor inductive, neither 
Jewish nor Greek, it is universal, enduring, valid 
for all minds and for all times. . . . It fits the spir- 
itual needs of the nineteenth as closely as it fit the 
needs of the first century.” ‘‘ By His word we test 
all doctrines, conclusions and commands. On His 
word we build all faith. This is the source of 
authority in the Kingdom of Heaven.” And Van 
Dyke only voices what the so-called Christian 
world accepts to the extent of its true Christianity, 
for the moment a man calls into question the au- 
thority of Jesus Christ, his Christianity is not in 
question but is under condemnation. 

There are those who vainly imagine that they can 
deny the authority of Jesus Christ and yet keep a 
Bible that is worth one’s study, and is a guide to 
life, holiness and heaven. But, as Dr. Talmage 
said, “Christ is the Alpha and Omega of this 
Word, and to deny Him and the authority of His 
every utterance, is to destroy the Word itself, for if 
we begin with Genesis, “the seed of the woman 
shall bruise the serpent’s head” is Christ, the 
Alpha, and when we come to Revelation, the Lamb 
before the Throne who has conquered the Dragon 
of the Pit, is “ Christ—the Omega.” ‘T'ake Christ 
out of the Bible and you have the Louvre without 
the pictures, the Tower of London without the 
jewels; take Him out and man is a failure, the 


66 CHRIST, THE TEACHER 


world a carcass and eternity a vast horror.’ But, 
thanks be to God, you cannot take Him out, for 
“Never man spake as this man.” “ He taught 
them as one having authority.” 


II. HIS SENTENCES WERE SIMPLE AND 
STRAIGHTFORWARD. 


The Sermon on the Mount abundantly illustrates 
this claim, ‘‘ And he opened his mouth and taught 
them, saying, Blessed are the poor in spirit, for 
theirs is the kingdom of Heaven. Blessed are they 
that mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed 
are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. 
Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after 
righteousness, for they shall be filled.” 

Take the sixth chapter: His senténces are equally 
simple and straightforward. “Take heed that ye 
do not your alms before men, to be seen of them, 
otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which 
is in heaven. Therefore when thou doest thine 
alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the 
hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, 
that they may have glory of men. Verily I say 
unto you, They have their reward. But when thou 
doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy 
right hand doeth, that thine alms may be in secret, 
and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall 
reward thee openly.”’ 

And in the seventh chapter: “ Judge not that ye 
be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge, 


CHRIST, THE TEACHER 67 


ye shall be judged; and with what measure ye mete, 
it shall be measured to you again. And why be- 
holdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, 
but considerest not the beam that is in thine own 
eye? Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me 
pull out the mote out of thine eye, and, behold, a 
beam is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, first 
cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then 
shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of 
thy brother’s eye.” 

Dr. Broadus, in his volume entitled ‘‘ Preparation 
and Delivery of Sermons, says, “ Style is excellent 
when, like the atmosphere, it shows the thought but 
itself is not seen, or, perhaps like stereoscopic 
glasses which, transparent themselves, give frame 
and body, and distinct outline to that which they 
exhibit.” And surely that claim can be made for 
the style of Jesus Christ. It was not His habit to 
employ terms so technical and high-sounding as to 
obscure the thought and thereby get for Himself a 
cheap reputation for learning or eloquence, or both. 

As I listen to men speak, whether as teachers, 
preachers or lecturers, there is nothing that quite so 
tries me as the obscurity of their sentences. A man 
may be as scholastic as he pleases in his own study, 
but when he stands before his audience he ought to 
be so simple and straightforward in statement that 
the little ones and the unlearned can understand him. 
At that point Christ Jesus is a Teacher of teachers. 

Dr. John Hall, as he spoke to students for the 


68 CHRIST, THE TEACHER 


ministry, said, “ Young men, it is a good thing to 
know Greek, but if you are to preach in America, it 
is absolutely necessary for you to speak in plain 
English.” ‘The beauty of that statement is that Dr. 
John Hall himself was a good illustration of it. 

A distinguished theologian in conversation with 
Dr. Theodore Cuyler said, “If I should return to 
the pastoral charge of a church I should do two 
things: I would make more direct personal efforts 
for the conversion of souls and I would spend no 
time on the rhetoric of my sermons. I would satu- 
rate my mind with Bible truth and then deliver that 
truth in the simplest idiomatic English I could 
command.” 

I speak to not a few who teach, some in public 
school and college, a number of you in Sunday 
Schools; and in a certain sense all those of us whu 
have come to years of maturity are instructors. 
Shall we not speak in plain words? I listened re- 
cently to two addresses delivered by a teacher 
who is reputed to be great, to audiences that were 
certainly not above the average. It is not an over- 
statement to say that every fifth word in his dis- 
course would require a dictionary upon the part of 
a college graduate. 

God’s Son is no such teacher. Every sentence, 
from Matthew 3:15, where Jesus began His public 
ministry, to Matthew 28:20, where He uttered 
the Great Commission, is as clear as the noon- 
day, and illustrates the claim of Christ, “I am 


CHRIST, THE TEACHER 69 


the light of the world.” In His teaching is no 
darkness at all. With elaborate sentences He had 
nothing to do; technical terms found little employ- 
ment at His tongue, well-poised sentences, perfectly 
rounded periods, and high-sounding climaxes may 
come from the lips of little men, but the great Son 
of God speaks and the ignorant of earth, and the 
little children understand. ‘‘ Never man spake like 
this man.” 


Ill. HIS SUBJECTS WERE THE GREAT ESSENTIALS. 


He spake of the Kingdom of God and of 
Heaven. He taught concerning the Son of Man, 
concerning the Father, concerning the Holy Ghost. 
He taught concerning sin, concerning repentance, 
concerning regeneration, concerning righteousness, 
concerning salvation. He taught concerning the 
church, concerning the immediate and final effects 
of His Gospel, concerning His second coming, the 
Millennium, the judgment, the future. No small 
theme ever engaged His tongue. 

Put down a list of the subjects that could stand 
as proper titles to His talks to the disciples, and 
His sermons to the multitude, and write beside 
them the subjects that the average preacher puts 
into the paper in the course of the year; it would 
be to shame the latter. 

At the present time some good men are engaged 
in collating the teachings of Jesus as they can be 
easily gathered out of the four Gospels, and in sys- 


70 CHRIST, THE TEACHER 


tematising them to show what subjects He dis- 
cussed and what He said about them. ‘They are 
bringing together abbreviated reports of Jesus’ 
words and the result is a new vision of the Son 
of Man. 

Dr. Horton tells us that in the ruined Abbey of 
st. Albans the restorers found a large amount of 
carved and painted stone trodden into the ground 
behind the chancel. When these were collected and 
patiently fitted together the shrine of the saint was 
recovered and now stands in its completeness, a 
visible proof that the fragments had originally be- 
longed to the whole. “In the same way we are 
able to take the scattered utterances and thoughts of 
Jesus and fit them together until a lovely and har- 
monious structure of doctrine rises before our 
eyes.” He might have added that when that 
structure is finished, when the last piece is laid in 
its place from foundation stone to finial, there is 
not one unimportant subject introduced, not one 
cheap sentence employed. ‘“‘ Never man spake like 
this man.” 


IV. THE OBJECT OF HIS TEACHING WAS 
EQUALLY SUPREME. 

That object was two-fold. 

First, He taught to make successors unto Him- 
self. From the first day of His public ministry 
Tle seems never to have forgotten that He was 
shortly to cease speaking and go His way to 


CHRIST, THE TEACHER 71 


Golgotha, and yet His teaching was of such 
importance to the wicked world that He would 
fain have it continued, and must therefore, find 
some one or more who would stand in His stead 
after Calvary had cut short His life. That was 
doubtless the occasion of choosing the twelve. 
They were to be His successors in the office of 
teaching. They were successors in the truest sense. 
Not that any one of them, not even that the twelve 
combined, could ever teach as He taught, so far as 
natural powers were concerned, but upon the faith- 
ful eleven He was to send the Holy Spirit to 
“bring to their remembrance ” the things He Him- 
self had said, and to “ guide them into all truth.” 

In John’s Gospel, fourteenth chapter, twelfth 
verse, He is talking to His disciples about succeed- 
ing Him in office. He has told them again of His 
speedy departure and they are sad. He has com- 
forted them by saying “Let not your hearts be 
troubled, ye believe in God, believe also in me.” 
Then, to show that everything was not to cease 
when He passed from the earth, He said, “ Verily, 
verily I say unto you, he that believeth on me, the 
works that I do shall he do also, and greater works 
than these shall he do, because I go unto my 
Father.” And again, “’The Comforter, which is 
the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my 
name, He shall teach you all things and bring all 
things to your remembrance whatsoever I have 
said unto you.” 


72 CHRIST, THE TEACHER 


James Stalker, in his volume entitled “ Imago 
Christi,’ says, ‘If we were to express the aim of 
Christ in the training of the twelve by saying that 
it was to provide successors to Himself, we should 
be using too strong a word, for in His greatest and 
most characteristic work, the working out of re-. 
demption by His sufferings and death, He had and 
could have no successor. He finished the work, 
leaving nothing for anyone else to do. But this 
being understood, we may perhaps best understand 
what He did as a Teacher by saying that He was 
training His own successors.” 

It would seem indeed that no man who ever filled 
an office in love could be content to leave it unless 
he hoped a suitable successor could be found. In 
proportion as one partakes of the Christ-spirit this 
thought stands forth, for Christianity is a religion 
which looks to the future, and in the future must 
find its victory and reward. The question of a suit- 
able successor arises every time a call from another 
field brings up the question of quitting the one of 
present occupancy, and every time a pain starts in 
him the thought ‘‘ Who knows but I may be near 
my end.” 

A few years ago a teacher in a small college in 
Indiana, having had offered him a place of larger 
honour and richer financial returns, said, “ I would 
accept this office instantly, only, if I did, I don’t 
just know who would come to succeed me here.” 
For a man to be so situated as to be able to train up 


CHRIST, THE TEACHER 73 


his successors, and through that training to come 
into such intimate touch with them as to know them 
in character as well as in conduct, in motive as well 
as in outward motion, and be convinced that truth 
would suffer nothing at their tongues, and find an 
equally vigourous putting by their pen would be a 
delight. 

Dr. John A. Broadus mourned that he had no 
son to take up his work of teaching, but the cause 
of mourning was removed when a most scholarly 
man married his daughter, and at the Doctor’s de- 
cision, stepped into his office to teach others the 
things the great man of God had taught him. 

The second object of Christ’s teaching was the . 
all-essential one, namely, Salvation. 

His mission to the world is well defined in the 
Old Testament. It was prophesied of Him, “ The 
Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the 
Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto 
the meek, he hath sent me to bind up the broken- 
hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the 
opening of the prison to them that are bound.” 
- He was faithful unto His office! 

In the Book of Matthew it is said, “ And thou 
shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his 
people from their sins,’ while Luke reports Him 
in these words, “The Son of Man is come to 
seek and to save that which was lost.” When 
Nicodemus came to Him at night and said, “ Mas- 
ter, we know that thou art a teacher come from 


74 CHRIST, THE TEACHER 


God,” Jesus responded to this appeal for instruc- 
tion by saying, “ Verily, verily I say unto thee, 
except a man be born again he cannot see the 
kingdom of God.” 

That was the all-essential object of His instruc- 
tion. If one considers the subjects to which He 
turns His attention they were all essential to in- 
struction about salvation. To Nicodemus He says, 
“Ye must be born again.” Concerning the Father 
He said, “ For God so loved the world that he gave 
his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in 
him should not perish but have everlasting life.” 
Concerning the Spirit He said, “ When he is come 
he will convince the world of sin, of righteousness 
and of the judgment; of sin because they believed 
not on me.” Concerning repentance, He said, 
“Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.’’ 
Concerning regeneration, “ Except a man be born 
of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the 
kingdom of God.’ Concerning righteousness, 
“ Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his right- 
eousness and all these things shall be added unto 
you.” Concerning the Gospel He taught what Paul 
afterwards voiced in a single sentence, “It is the 
power of God unto salvation unto every one that 
believeth.” Concerning the Second Coming, He 
insisted upon preparation, since we “ know not the 
day nor the hour when the Son of man cometh.” 
No sincere student of the teachings of Jesus could 
ever call into question that the purpose of it all, 


CHRIST, THE TEACHER 75 


so far as the supreme object was concerned, was 
salvation. 

It seems a sad circumstance that so few of the 
teachers in our schools today, academies, colleges, 
universities and divinity seminaries are making 
salvation the supreme object of teaching. Would 
that more of them felt what a certain Principal ex- 
pressed at a great Convention when he said, ‘‘ Un- 
less I can see accomplished student salvation I will 
not remain in the office of teacher.” 

What is the use of science if it does not show 
men to God? What is the use of literature if it 
does not lead to Him? What is the use of philoso- 
phy if through it you cannot find life? What is the 
use of charity unless you appreciate what Dr. Hen- 
derson said, ‘‘ The soul of charity is charity for the 
soul.” Oh, that the Spirit of Christ might possess 
more of our teachers as it possessed Prof. Tholuck, 
that great theological teacher, that successful enemy 
of German rationalism. In the midst of all his 
teaching, his work as an exegete, his book-writing 
and publishing, while walking rapidly to the posi- 
tion of a world-wide reputation, he gave four hours 
a day, we are told, to talking with students about 
their salvation, and when he was but a few years in 
his office as teacher he was able to say that he knew 
where there were more than a thousand young men 
that he had led to the Lord. Truly we may believe 
that he said, as reputed, “I have but one passion, 
and that is Christ.” 


V 
CHRIST'S FIRST APOSTEES 


“ Now, as he walked by the sea of Galilee, he saw 
Simon and Andrew, his brother, casting a net into the 
sea: for they were fishers. And Jesus said unto them, 
Come ye after me, and I will make you to become 
fishers of men. And straightway they forsook their 
nets, and followed him. And when he had gone a 
little farther thence, he saw James, the son of Zebe- 
dee, and John, his brother, who also were in the ship 
mending their nets. And straightway he called them: 
and they left thew father Zebedee in the ship with the 
hired servants, and went after him, and they went into 
Capernaum.’—Mark 1: 16-21. 


HE lives of some great men make fascinating 
history. The life of Jesus Christ is super- 
latively so. For two thousand years men 

have been studying it, learning from it, marveling 
about it, and the marvel increases. Other men have 
had their followers, but no man ever had such dis- 
ciples as those who became followers of Jesus. The 
first of these became especially famous, for in that 
list of four names, three of them became the inner 
circle of His intimates, Peter, James and John. 
The manner of their call is elaborated by John, 
who, being one of them, would know the minor 


76 


CHRIST’S FIRST APOSTLES 77 


details. The latter half of his first chapter is de- 
voted to this story. Mark, however, makes a 
briefer and much more graphic account of it, and 
in some ways a more suggestive one. There is not, 
necessarily, the least inharmony between these two 
reports. Mark reports the call of the four, while 
John gives the manner of their response. It would 
seem, therefore, from John’s Gospel, that it was not 
immediate in the instance of all, that two of the 
brothers, Andrew and John, more readily became 
inquirers, and that their influence was effectively 
brought to bear upon the other two, Peter and 
James. 

Interpreting Mark’s report in the light of John’s 
record, we find especial attention called to The 
Christ of the Apostles, The Call of the Apostles, 
and ‘The Commission of the Apostles. 


I. THE CHRIST OF THE APOSTLES. 


“Now, as he walked by the sea of Galilee.” 
He—Jesus of Nazareth! He, whom John the Bap- 
tist saw coming unto him, and of whom he said, 
“ Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the 
sins of the world.” 

In this remark of John’s we have three funda- 
mental facts regarding the person of Mark’s report. 
He was Jesus of Nazareth, He was the Lamb of 
God, He was the world’s only Saviour. 

He was Jesus of Nazareth! Jesus is His human 
name! ‘Though it suggests His divine mission, its 


78 CHRIST’S FIRST APOSTLES 


primary import is His pure humanity. He was 
born of a virgin; He was flesh and blood! When 
Pilate said, “‘ Behold the man,” his phrase was 
properly employed. 

The famous paintings intended to represent 
Jesus strikingly signify a historical fact, namely, 
the debate of the centuries as between His human- 
ity on the one side and His divinity on the other. 
The artists were doubtless influenced by the opin- 
ions of the fathers and early historians. Some of 
these describe Jesus as angelic in features, and 
God-like in the magnificence of His form. St. 
Jerome and St. Augustine, we are told, even re- 
minded their auditors of the Psalmist’s words, 
“Thou art fairer than the children of men,’ and 
Angelo, da Vinci, Raphael and Titian interpret the 
thought. On the other hand, great religious teach- 
ers, like Clement, Origen and Tertullian, took the 
prophet’s words ‘‘ When we shall see him there is 
no beauty in him that we should desire him ” liter- 
ally, and reminded their auditors of the prophecy 
that He should be ‘‘ marred as was never man,” and 
insisted that He was not only without celestial 
splendour, but lacked even in human attractions, 
was “‘ill-shapen and ignoble.”’ 

If one will study the theology of these fathers he 
will find, to his surprise, that the more sceptical 
ones of the early age held to this latter view, while 
those men who believed more implicitly in every 
word of God, held to the former—a most signifi- 


CHRIST’S FIRST APOSTLES 79 


cant fact! ‘Those who believe only in the humanity 
of Jesus are liable to depreciate His personal at- 
tractions, ““ He is a man, and no God is to be found 
in that form.” On the other hand, those who be- 
lieve in His deity to such an extent as to doubt 
His real humanity are equally tempted to over- 
emphasize the signs of divinity showing from every 
feature. 

We do not know how much of veracity there is 
in the claim made for the ancient manuscript sup- 
posed to have been sent by Publicus Lentulus, 
President of Judzea, to the senate at Rome. It 
reads after this manner: “ There lives at this time, 
in Judea, a man of singular character whose name 
is Jesus Christ. The barbarians esteem him a 
prophet, but his followers adore him as the im- 
mediate offspring of the immortal God. He is 
endowed with such unparalleled virtue as to call 
back the dead from their graves, and to heal every 
kind of disease with a word or touch. His person 
is tall and elegantly shaped, his aspect is amiable, 
revered. His hair flows in those beautiful shades 
which no united colours can match, falling into 
graceful curls before his ears, and agreeably couch- 
ing on his shoulders, and parting on the crown of 
his head like the head dress of the sect of the Naza- 
renes. His forehead is smooth and large, his cheek 
without spot, save that of a lovely red, his nose and 
mouth are formed with exquisite symmetry, his 
beard is thick and suited to the hair on his head, 


80 CHRIST’S FIRST APOSTLES 


reaching below his chin and parting in the middle 
like a fork; his eyes are bright, clear and serene. 

“He rebukes with majesty, counsels with mild- 
ness, invites with tender and persuasive language, 
his whole address, whether in deed or word, being 
elegant, grave and characteristic of so exalted a 
being. No man has seen him laugh, but the whole 
world beholds him weep frequently, and so per- 
suasive are his tears that the multitude cannot with- 
hold their tears from joining in sympathy with him. 
He is very temperate, modest and wise. In short, 
whatever his phenomenon may turn out in the end, 
he seems a man of excellent beauty and perfections, 
every way surpassing the children of men.” 

Beyond question this is the conception of Jesus 
pretty generally held now, and we suspect, as near 
the true picture of His Personality as any one is 
likely to present. 

But, according to the text, He was more than 
a man! 

He was the very Lamb of God! The word of 
John the Baptist was, “ Behold, the Lamb of God.” 
In that language of the Baptist there was the link- 
ing up of Scriptures. The Old Testament prophets 
had pointed forward to One to come; the angel 
Gabriel had announced His arrival; by His bap- 
tism, God Himself unwilling longer to leave men 
in question, speaking of Him, said, “ This is my 
beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” 

It would seem that any man who made an earnest 


CHRIST’S FIRST APOSTLES 81 


study of the life of Christ would be compelled to 
the expression of Napoleon: “ Everything in Christ 
astonishes me. His spirit over-awes me; and His 
will confounds me. . . . His Gospel, His appari- 
tion, His empire, His march across the ages and 
the realms, everything is for me a prodigy, a 
mystery-insoluble.” And yet, to stand in awe in 
the presence of Jesus is not enough; one who does 
that may be compelled to consent “ He is the Son 
of God!” But such an one would not necessarily 
dwell upon John’s particular thought, “ The Lamb 
of God that taketh away the sins of the world ’— 
the long-looked-for Messiah, the One hope of 
hurting hearts! 

How are we to get that knowledge of Him? 
We believe that the way of the text, especially 
John’s text, tells. The two disciples spent a day 
with Him. From His presence they went with a 
special testimony. It has always been so, and it 
will always remain so; the men who spend the 
most time with Jesus will most positively believe 
in His deity, and will be able to say without 
equivocation, ““ We have found the Messias,” and 
will be able to answer the question of their doubt- 
ing brothers as Philip replied to Nathanael, ‘‘ Come 
and see.”’ 

Commenting upon that phrase, one said, “ We 
are not at liberty to urge men to come and see our 
literature, we are not asking them to look upon the 
church as an institution, not to come and see the 


82045. CHRIST’S FIRST APOSTLES 


preacher, not to come and look upon the most noted 
servant the Son of God ever had; we must go be- 
yond the servant and show the inquirer the Lord 
Himself.” And the man who sees Him in His 
risen glory and power, must of necessity fall at 
His feet, as did Thomas, and say, “ My Lord and 
my God!” 

If one answers that the visible presence of Christ 
is not in the world and so we cannot see Him, we 
reply, “If the visible presence of Christ is not in 
the world, the spiritual presence, which is a pres- 
ence larger still, more positive, more glorious, is in 
the world,” dispelling its despair, breaking its fet- 
ters, setting at liberty its slaves, lifting the curse of 
ignorance, the intolerable burdens of poverty, driv- 
ing before its face its cruel inhumanity, and breath- 
ing upon every part of the world where His name 
has been made known the breath of sweetness, of 
kindness, of joy; and every doubting Nathanael 
of the world, if he but study that presence and 
person alike, would exclaim, “ Rabbi, thou are the 
Son of God, thou are the King of Israel!” 

Dr. Strong, former President of Rochester 
Theological Seminary, on his seventieth birthday, 
expressed his amazement that any man who had 
ever known Jesus as Saviour could by any process 
of the intellect whatever doubt His deity. And 
another equally eminent theological professor said, 
“Tf a reference to a personal experience may be 
pardoned, I may here set my seal. Never shall I 


CHRIST’S FIRST APOSTLES 83 


forget the gain to conscious faith and peace which 
came to my own soul not long after the first de- 
cisive and appropriating view of the crucified Lord 
as the sinner’s sacrifice.” So again we remark, the 
men who come into most intimate contact with Him 
will find it most easy to believe in His deity. 

But, according to John, another remark regard- 
ing the Christ of the Apostles is justified. 

He was the world’s only Saviour. It is not many 
years since a liberal minister of London, in his 
book, ‘‘ New Theology,” exploited the theory that 
when Isaiah wrote the fifty-third chapter of his 
book he had no reference whatever to Jesus. One 
of the marked signs of the scepticism of this age 
is in the circumstance that now many men are 
mouthing this deliverance of infidelity, and some 
of them are men who once had reputations for 
loyalty to both Christ and His Book. 

_ By the same process of argument one must deny 
that any Old Testament lamb slain upon the altar, 
under the Levitical system, had any reference what- 
ever to “the Lamb of God which taketh away the 
sins of the world.” The testimony of John the 
Baptist, then, is disputed, and the interpretations 
of Philip, as he told the Ethiopian treasurer the 
meaning of Isaiah fifty-three, was far-fetched 
and false. 

Dr. Campbell Morgan, by earnest, honest study, 
has made himself easily one of the most noted men 
of the world, and his contributions to literature 


84 CHRIST’S FIRST APOSTLES 


give positive proof of his versatility in Scripture, 
and Morgan, with much feeling, defends Isaiah's 
prophetic reference as being the plain finger of 
prophecy, and going further, he declares that Jesus, 
the Lamb of God, marked by the finger of John the 
Baptist, was typified as far back as Isaac’s proposed 
offering, and the very question of Isaac to his 
father, ‘‘ Where is the lamb for the burnt offer- 
ing?” is answered by John the Baptist, who, point- 
ing to Jesus, said, “ Behold the Lamb of God.” 
He justly contends, “ This is no mere accident. It 
is a part of the great proof of the unity of the 
Book. ‘The old economy was able to produce the 
fire and the wood, symbol of judgment, but nothing 
more. In the New the perfect sacrifice is provided 
that sin may be put away; Jesus of Nazareth ap- 
pears as God’s Lamb ‘slain from the foundation 
of the world.’ ” 

Charles Spurgeon, speaking against the world’s 
effort to provide another way of redemption, says, 
“ Poor sinners, you are still looking to yourselves. 
You rake the dung-hills of your human nature to 
find the pearl of great price which is not there. 
You will look beneath the ice of your natural de- 
pravity to find the flame of comfort which is not 
there. You might as well seek in hell itself to find 
heaven as look into your own words and merits to 
find sure ground of trust. Down with your self- 
reliances! Down with them, every one of them! 
Away with all those confidences of yours, for 


CHRIST’S FIRST APOSTLES 85 


“None but Jesus, none but Jesus, 
Can do helpless sinners good.” 


The one certain thing about Spurgeon is his 
scripturalness. Read Acts 4:12, ‘‘ There is none 
other name, given under heaven and among men, 
whereby we must be saved.” 


II. THE CALL OF THE APOSTLES. 


“Jesus said unto them, Come ye after me.” 

His call amounted to an actual demand. If 
Christ were only a man this would be one of 
the strangest speeches ever made, and would indi- 
cate madness. What right has an ordinary Naza- 
rene to stop at the lakeside and look into the faces 
of successful fishermen and say to them, “ Come ye 
after me,” demanding that they leave their occupa- 
tion, take up with Him, sit at His feet, learn of 
Him, take orders from Him, become not only His 
disciples, but His very servants? Where in human 
history has any other man, supposed to be in his 
right mind, addressed his followers after this man- 
ner, excepting he do it in the name of his office as 
king, or emperor, or caliph? And where did any 
man who had no such vested authority make such a 
demand upon his fellows, to have his demands re- 
garded by a full and complete surrender of self ? 

No! What they had seen of Jesus had con- 
vinced them that He was more than a man. AI- 
ready there is an impression at least, profound and 


86 CHRIST’S FIRST APOSTLES 


deep, to be later voiced by Peter, “Thou art the 
Christ, the Son of the living God.’ In His voice 
they heard God’s voice, and did not disregard it. 
When Joan of Arc undertook her matchless career, 
there was one impelling force driving her in un- 
wonted ways, demanding of her the most unusual 
procedure, and in answer to every argument men 
made against her leadership she felt compelled to 
say, “ My voices!” ‘ My voices!” by which she 
meant, “God is speaking and I hear and must 
obey.” 

That great missionary leader, Robert E. Speer, 
speaking on “ What Constitutes a Missionary Call,” 
says, “‘ Every time I go down to Asheville, and the 
train stops long enough in Salisbury, I go out to a 
little graveyard in the middle of the town and walk 
to a grave that I found several years ago. Some- 
thing on a stone caught my eye and when I came up 
to it I read the inscription, ‘ Here lies the body of 
F. M. Kent, Lieutenant-Colonel of the First Louisi- 
ana Regulars, who died in 1864, in the month of 
April,’ and underneath are these words, ‘ He gave 
his life for the cause he loved.’ Near by was the 
grave of John R. Pearson, First Lieutenant of the 
Seventh Regiment of North Carolina, who was 
shot at Petersburg at the age of eighteen, and be- 
neath the name the simple record, ‘I look for the 
resurrection of the dead.’ ’’ Spear says, “ I took off 
my hat and stood beside the graves of the eighteen- 
year-old lieutenant and the older colonel, who had 


CHRIST’S FIRST APOSTLES 87 


given their lives for the cause they loved. [I said, 
‘Was that the way men did in those days? Did 
they answer the call of their leader e’en though they 
knew they were marching in the face of death, 
prompted in their response by love for a great 
cause?’’’ Shall men do less now? Shall the call 
of Jefferson Davis and the love of the Southland 
mean more than the call of Jesus, than the love of a 
sinning and dying world? God forbid! 

This Scripture also expresses the idea of sub- 
seruvience. ‘“‘Come ye after me.” “ After me” is 
suggestive. Christ must lead, the Christian must 
follow. He must forever remain the Master, we 
must forever be servants. We employ the word 
“servant ’’ meaning not alone secondary station, 
but with a view of faithful service. Many writers 
have spoken of the evident fact that Jesus was a 
judge of men. He knew what was in them. Have 
you not been impressed by the historical circum- 
stance that Jesus never called any man from idle- 
ness? In the first instance here the brothers were 
casting their nets, actually engaged in their daily 
vocation. In the next instance they were mending 
their nets, not only indicating their expectations of 
success in future fishing, but possibly suggesting a 
catch like that which they took once at Jesus’ com- 
mand, which broke the net. 

When Levi was called he was sitting at the seat 
of custom, and so on for every one of the twelve. 
That professor of the theological seminary who 


88 CHRIST’S FIRST APOSTLES 


told his students about a man who came to him 
saying he was sure he had been called to the min- 
istry, and when asked “ Why?” replied, “ Because 
I fail at everything else I try to do” was not re- 
porting an exceptional instance. Again and again 
men talk after the same manner, saying that the 
Lord has shut all other doors before them and they 
think it is an evidence that He is opening to them 
the door of the ministry. It is the poorest recom- 
mendation that any man has ever brought. Serv- 
ants of the Lord God, if they are to do anything 
for Him, must be busy men and successful ones. 
We are not sirprised that Christ should call men 
who were successfully engaged. | 

But the next sentence reminds us of another fact, 
namely, His call looks always to personal and of- 
ficial exaltation. “ Fishing” is an honest calling, 
but ‘ fishing for men” is a more honourable one. 
That statement is capable of a very wide applica- 
tion. We do not care for what you are fishing, 
whether it be fish or office or gold. We do not 
care how successful you are in taking fish, or in 
securing office, or in heaping up gold; if God calls 
you from that occupation to be a “ fisher of men” 
He has favoured you with the highest of all hon- 
ours, and brought you to an exaltation of which 
the world knows nothing. 

We have a friend in the ministry, one of the 
most noted Congregational ministers in the world, 
who came up from a position of poverty and hum- 


CHRIST’S FIRST APOSTLES 89 


ble apprenticeship in England, to be pastor, author, 
lecturer, with international reputation in all. You 
say “God has exalted him and honoured him.” 
We have a friend in the Methodist ministry whose 
name is a household word in America, who began 
life as a blacksmith. You say ‘“ God has exalted 
and honoured him.” We have a friend in the Bap- 
tist ministry, looked upon now as knowing few 
equals and no superiors, who began life as a farm 
lad. You say “ God has honoured him and exalted 
him.” We have a friend in the Presbyterian min- 
istry who used to be one of the leading baseball 
lights of the land. You say “ God has exalted him 
and honoured him.” We say to you that when God 
called another friend, a man from the office of 
teacher, to preach, God called him and exalted him; 
and yet another He called from the office of banker, 
and that man He also honoured and exalted, and 
yet another whom He called from a successful 
practice of law to preach the Gospel, and in the 
call he was honoured and exalted. 

Those of us who are parents are very likely to 
think if our daughters could marry brilliant and 
rich men rather than go as missionaries, we should 
see them honoured instead of hidden. But such 
thought is folly and shows our poor appreciation of 
real values. We also think if our sons could engage 
in one of the noble professions and stand at the top 
in the same rather than serve God in some station 
of comparative humility, that we could share the 


90 CHRIST’S FIRST APOSTLES 


honours with them. But such judgment is pitiable 
in the light of Scripture teaching, and none the less 
so in the light of Christian experience. 

It will be confessed that when General Booth 
died no king of England was more highly honoured 
in his death. J. Wilbur Chapman says that one day 
he said to General Booth, “ Tell me, what has been 
the secret of your success?” Before that question 
the great General hesitated a moment and then, 
with tears in his eyes, tears which crept slowly 
down his furrowed cheeks, said, ‘ Chapman, I will 
tell you the secret. God has had all there was of 
me. There have been men with greater brains than 
I, men with greater opportunities, but from the day 
I got the poor of London on my heart, and a vision 
of what Jesus Christ could do for them, I made up 
my mind that God could have all there was of Wil- 
liam Booth.” “ Then,” said Chapman, “I learned 
another secret, for immediately the great man 
kneeled and prayed, and as I listened to him plead- 
ing for the outcasts of London, and of New York, 
the lost of China, and for the great world itself, 
lying in the wicked one, pleading with sobs and 
tears, I understood that his success was measured 
by his surrender.” 


Ill) THE COMMISSION OF THE APOSTLES. 
It was to be fishers of their fellows. 
“Come ye after me, and I will make you to 
become fishers of men.” 


CHRIST’S FIRST APOSTLES 91 


Notwithstanding our modern teaching with the 
emphasis upon sociology and all the rest, the Son 
of God set His disciples to one task, viz., to win 
their fellows, to be fishers of men. Dr. A. C. 
Dixon is a good example of his own words. On 
one occasion he said, ‘“‘ Our business is to save 
some. We may do other things, but they are inci- 
dental. As you walk down the corridor of the 
Astor House towards the restaurant you will see 
standing in the door a man who never looks into 
your face, he always looks at your shoes. ‘That 
man’s business is to black shoes, and I have never 
seen him look into the face of a guest. His one 
thought is about the condition of their shoes. A 
life insurance agent told me that he never saw a 
respectable man who did not suggest to him a pol- 
icy. His business was to get policies. Every per- 
son you meet should suggest salvation.” When 
John Wesley was robbed by a highwayman he said 
to the fellow, “Some time, my friend, you may 
repent of this, and if you ever do, remember, ‘ The 
blood of Jesus Christ, his Son, cleanseth us from 
all sin.” Years afterward that man sought out 
Wesley and told him that the word spoken then had 
been as a barbed arrow in his heart, finally com- 
pelling repentance and surrender to the Son of God. 
The apostle of Christ has one supreme call! Take 
men! 

For that call Christ has promised to prepare 
them. “I will make you to.become fishers of 


92 CHRIST’S FIRST APOSTLES 


33 


men.” The essential preparation for every man 
who would do Christ’s service must come from 
Christ Himself. Other teachers he may have, this 
greatest of teachers he must have. Men talk some- 
times about ‘‘ modern education” as if the world 
had just now begun to believe in scientific research, 
as if the church had just now begun to think that 
an educated ministry were desirable. Such concep- 
tions are but the expression of the egoism of the 
age. There were cultured men in Greece, cultured 
men in Rome; Gamaliel was a great teacher two 
thousand years ago, and the apostle Paul a splendid 
and accomplished scholar. ‘‘ Modern education ” 
is, for the most part, a boast. Our forefathers be- 
lieved in education, and in proportion to their op- 
portunities, they secured it, notwithstanding the 
circumstances by which they were hampered. 

If anybody doubts this he needs only to look 
into history a little to be convinced of it. Let 
our Puritan fathers express themselves upon this 
subject. Over the north gate of Harvard you 
will read the inscription, “‘ After God had car- 
ried us safely to New England, and we had 
builded our houses, provided necessaries for our 
livelihood, reared convenient places for God’s 
worship, and settled the civil government, one 
of the next things we longed for and looked 
after was to advance learning and perpetuate it 
to posterity, dreading to leave an illiterate min- 
istry to our churches when our present ministry 


CHRIST’S FIRST APOSTLES 93 


(mark the phrase—an educated one) shall lie in 
the dust.” 

The Church of God, wherever it has lived in the 
spirit of its Master, has been at once the parent and 
patron of education, but if the day ever comes when 
she forgets that for the special apostles of Jesus at 
home and abroad the essential education must come 
from the great Master Himself, it will be a day 
darkening into night, a day threatening doom. 

As the pastor of a congregation including hun- 
dreds of young people, I have almost a boundless 
pride in the number who are students, good stu- 
dents. But I should be a false leader if I did not 
remind them that no teacher at whose feet men sit 
is worthy to be mentioned in the same breath with 
the Teacher who said, “‘ Come after me, and I will 
make you fishers of men.” No preparation of the 
schools can ever take the place of that preparation 
which comes from receiving His Spirit and imbib- 
ing His wisdom. 

And yet one point more in this election of the 
first apostles. 

The place of their work was His appointment. 
For when they forsook their nets and followed 
Him, He led them “ into Capernaum.” When they 
arose to go after Him they did not know where He 
would lead, nor does it seem that they asked. That 
was with Him! He makes no mistakes! It may 
be in India, it may be in Africa, it may be in China, 
it may be in America; let the Master say. It 1s 


94 CHRIST’S FIRST APOSTLES 


little wonder that He wants some to go to Africa 
when we are told that oftentimes the delegates that 
come from the villages and jungles walk hundreds 
of miles to beg for teachers. It is little wonder that 
He sent two of my college mates to Korea, Moffitt 
and Beard, for in thirty-five years there they have 
seen thousands and tens of thousands turn to the 
Lord God. 

It is little wonder that He lays financial demands 
upon some of those of us He has called to live in 
this land of light and privilege. The marvel is that 
with our small sacrifices He accomplishes so much. 
Some years since we were told that each thousand 
dollars spent in a year paid the salary of one mis- 
sionary, supported seven native workers, helped to 
win sixteen new converts, assisted four Sunday 
Schools; provided Bible instruction for one hun- 
dred and sixty-five Sunday school pupils, gave 
Christian education to sixty boys and girls, secured 
$745.00 in contributions from native Christians, 
gave Christian medical treatment to forty-five suf- 
ferers, cared for the administration work, and 
secured immeasurable spiritual results which no 
man can tabulate. 

And so in our giving or going, let Him lead! 


VI 
THE MIRACLES OF CHRIST 


“This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of 
Galilee, and manifested forth his glory; and his dis- 
ciples believed on him.”—JOuN 2:11. 


HE orthodox Christian world has fully con- 
sented to the authenticity of this miracle, 
and does not call into question the record 

of the many marvels of Christ’s ministry which 
succeeded this one wrought in Cana of Galilee. 
But, strange to say, that same orthodoxy is 
“divided against itself” on the subject of the 
modern miracle. The creeds of most of the 
greater denominations are silent touching the is- 
sues of this controversy. Atheists, Naturalists, 
Rationalists, Formalists, and kindred folk have 
so violently and assiduously assaulted the miracle 
itself, and spoken with such rage against the 
thought of a modern miracle, that they have 
made timid men afraid to talk on this subject 
lest they should seem to fly in the face of Philos- 
ophy or Science, or both; and they have coerced 
from too many Christian men the humiliating con- 
cession concerning the Lazarus at the gate “ thy 
bruise is incurable; thy wound is grievous, there 


95 


96 THE MIRACLES OF CHRIST 


is none to plead thy cause, that thou may’st be 
bound up.” 

Is such a concession to the power of the Adver- 
sary necessary? What saith the Word? The true 
prophet’s part was voiced to Samuel by the aged 
Eli—“ What is the thing that the Lord hath said 
unto thee? I pray thee hide it not from me. God do 
so to thee and more also, if thou hide anything . . . 
of all the things that He hath said unto thee.” If 
men are to be saved from the vagaries and fanati- 
cisms which are more and more multiplying on 
every side, it must be through the faithful min- 
istry of the Word. Every subject of controversy 
must be brought to it for settlement, and the honest 
inquirer will ask but one question, “ What saith the 
Scripture?” 

Now to the text, “ This beginning of miracles 
did Jesus in Cana of Galilee, and manifested forth 
his glory, and his disciples believed on him.” 

This text- marvelously compasses what I want to 
say on Supernaturalism, or The Miracle Ancient 
and Modern. Following its plain suggestions I call 
your attention to The Miracle Performed: The 
Miracle Promised: and, The Purpose of the 
Miracle. 


I. THE MIRACLE PERFORMED. 


“This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana 
of Galilee.”’ 
The question asked by every student of this sub- 


\ 


THE MIRACLES OF CHRIST 97 


ject is, “ What is a miracle?” It is a question not 
so easily answered. In fact the very difficulty of 
defining a miracle has been made the ground of its 
denial alike by sceptics and ecclesiastical scribes. 
And yet, as Dr. Lorimer has said, ‘ The Gospels 
have taught that miracles are astonishing and ex- 
pressive effects of which the Divine energy is the 
direct and all-sufficient cause.”” Whether that defi- 
nition be accepted or no, the question of miracles 
is not to be evaded. What men want to know is 
this, whether what Jesus did at Cana of Galilee in 
turning water into wine; at Jericho, in opening the — 
eyes of the blind; at the bier of the Nain widow’s 
son, and again at Lazarus’ tomb in raising the dead, 
are works so wonderful that God’s power alone ac- 
counts for them? If so, it is all one with us 
whether you speak of them as “ miracles,” “ signs,” 
“wonders,” or “power.” The act is defined not 
so much by words as by the conceded presence and 
power of God. 

Edward Gilpin Johnson, in his introduction to 
“ Reynolds’ Discourses,” says of beauty: “ Beauty 
analysed is beauty slain, and it is, after all, wiser 
to rest satisfied with inhaling the fragrance of the 
flower of art and enjoying its perfections, than to 
pull it to pieces, count the petals and stamens, and 
resolve the perfume into an essence scientifically 
procurable from wayside seeds.” The ninth chap- 
ter of John presents a perfect illustration of our 
thought: a man blind from his birth had received 


98 THE MIRACLES OF CHRIST 


his sight at the word of the Lord. Being brought 
unto the Pharisees they asked him how he had 
received his sight? And yet again they said unto 
him, “ What did He do thee? How opened He 
thine eyes?” thereby taking the advantage of dis- 
putants who would evade facts by entrenching 
themselves behind the difficulties of a definition. 
The answer of that man includes one of the best 
definitions of a miracle possible, ‘“ One thing I 
know, that whereas I was blind, now I see.” And 
again, “If this man were not of God he could do 
nothing.” A miracle is some astonishing expres- 
sion of God’s might. 

“ This beginning of miracles did Jesus.’ Water 
was turned into wine by the fiat of His own will. 
For Him to mentally command it was sufficient, 
since “all things are possible with God.” It is 
only the millionth man who rises to any proper 
conception of the Divine majesty and power. 
Whenever you meet such a man his faith makes 
his name immortal. Witness the Centurion who 
at Capernaum “came beseeching Christ, saying, 
Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldst come 
under my roof, but speak the word only and my 
servant shall be healed. ... When Jesus heard 
that, he marveled, and said to them that followed, 
Verily I say unto you I have not found so great 
faith, no, not in Israel.” 

And yet, why should a man who believes in God 
exercise less confidence in His power? It is a 


THE MIRACLES OF CHRIST 99 


strange freak of the intellect, to say the least, to 
consent to Hebrews 11: 3—“ By faith we under- 
stand that the worlds have been framed by the word 
of God, so that what is seen hath not been made out 
of things which do appear” (R. V.), and in the 
next breath call into question whether He who 
spake the universe into existence can quicken the 
palsied, cleanse the leper, or raise the dead with a 
word. O. M. Mitchel, in his “ Planetary and Solar 
World,” says of the rings of Saturn, “It is beyond 
our power to conceive how this could be accom- 
plished by any law of which we have any knowl- 
edge, and we must refer their structure at once to 
the fiat of Omnipotence. The rings of Saturn are 
stubborn facts, why should the Scientist who has 
no possible explanation of their existence and rela- 
tions, object to Mitchel’s believing disposition of 
them? 

Robert Buchanan says justly, concerning the 
effort of men to reject the miracle and keep the 
Master, “ We may follow Mr. Matthew Arnold in 
his pitiful feats of literary Jesuitry, and put all the 
miraculous business aside in order to throw one 
last straw of hope to the sinking Church of En- 
gland. We may putter and quibble about “ poetry ” 
and “ essential” religion just as much or as little as 
we please, but with the loss of the supernatural pre- 
tension, perishes the whole fabric of organised 
Christianity.” 

The opinion of Strauss, Baur, Newman and 


100 THE MIRACLES OF CHRIST 


others that a miracle “is unnatural and hence im- 
possible” can carry but little weight with clear 
thinking men, and still less with Christian believers. 
The supernatural is in no sense the unnatural. It 
would be difficult to show that the miracles of the 
Master were not, every one, a replacement of some 
dethroned power to its natural position. It is pos- 
sible for the electric current that drives the street 
car to be reversed and turn the wheel backward. 
Will the scientist who witnesses this operation 
claim an unnatural action when the operator so 
manipulates the current as to drive his car for- 
ward again? What else is sickness than a re- 
versal of all the natural levers of physical life, a 
backward revolution of the machinery of nature? 
What else was Christ’s healing than turning 
again the’ currents of health into their appointed 
channels ? 

In some sections of China women’s feet are 
bound, and that custom prevails so extensively that 
many a girl grows up feeling it must be so. And 
yet is it unnatural when Christian teaching takes 
the bandages from the toes and the feet of a 
Chinese woman attain their divinely appointed pro- 
portions? What else is paralysis and blindness 
than a binding of the feet and a blinding of the 
eyes by the Adversary? And what else is the word 
of Jesus, “ Arise, take up thy bed and walk,” “ Re- 
ceive thy sight,” than a tearing away of the same, 
that Nature may reassert herself? Who can prove 


THE MIRACLES OF CHRIST 101 


that death is natural? Why, then, should these 
devotees of so-called Law object and count it “a 
thing incredible that God should raise the dead?”’ 
The resurrection of the body from the grave may 
be as much in keeping with the eternal laws of God 
as is the coming of the beautiful chrysalis out of 
the silken bag in which last season’s caterpillar 
perished. Christian men and women cannot afford 
to forget either that the miracle is possible, or else 
“the new heavens and the new earth” promised in 
the Revelation are a mirage—never to be realised, 
and believers are, as the Apostle Paul put it, “of 
all men most miserable” since their “faith is 
in vain.” 


Il. THE MIRACLE PROMISED. 


“This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana 
of Galilee.” 

The water made wine was only the first m a 
series of wonderful works. It was only the begin- 
ning of Christ’s miracles. The very phrase em- 
ployed is a promise of marvels to follow. To turn 
water into wine was wonderful, but greater things 
should they see who walk with the Son of God. 
Tomorrow He will heal the nobleman’s son, the 
next day He will still the tempest, shortly the de- 
moniac of Gadara shall be dispossessed, Jairus’ 
daughter raised, the paralytic freshly empowered, 
the leper cleansed, the Centurion’s servant healed, 
Simon’s wife’s mother recovered from her fever, 


102 THE MIRACLES OF CHRIST 


the widow’s son raised from the dead, and many 
other wonderful works. How many miracles Jesus 
wrought no man knows. In addition to the thirty 
odd, detailed, there are those sweeping sentences, 
“ And he healed all that were sick, and oppressed 
of the devil.’”’ Men, anxious to obscure the miracle, 
are wont to insist that Jesus gave Himself mostly 
to wonderful words. But any fair student of the 
Word of God must know that wonderful works 
claim at least half of this Divine record, and 
probably played no less conspicuous part in the 
life-labours of the Son of Man. True, the op- 
ponents of Jesus said, “ Never man spake like 
this man,” but the language of Nicodemus is 
equally suggestive, ‘ Rabbi, we know that thou 
art a teacher come from God, for no man can 
do these miracles that thou doest except God be 
with him.” 

The words and works of Jesus were alike only 
beginnings. ‘The miracle at Cana of Galilee was 
only a beginning of what Jesus would do in His 
office as Mediator between God and man. Students 
of the Word have been profoundly impressed by 
the opening sentence of Acts, “ The former treatise 
have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus 
began both to do and teach.” Certainly it never 
entered the mind of the Master that either His 
matchless words or His marvelous works would end 
at Calvary. For three years and a half He had 
made one of the chief objects of His ministry suc- 


THE MIRACLES OF CHRIST 103 


cessors in labour. When His disciples were sor- 
rowing at the shadow of the cross He comforted 
them by saying, “ Let not your heart be troubled, 
ye believe in God, believe also in me. . . . He that 
believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do 
also, and greater works than these shall he do be- 
cause I go unto my Father.” If any man say that 
the works to be done by His apostles and disciples 
did not include miracles, it is sufficient to answer, 
“How readest thou?”’ Hear His commission to 
the twelve, “ As ye go preach, saying, The kingdom 
of heaven is at hand. Heal the sick, cleanse the 
lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils. Freely ye 
have received, freely give.” And if any man say, 
“Yes, but this commission was given only to a 
select company,” you answer, “ If so, the same can- 
not be asserted concerning the promise of power,” 
for, lo, these words conclude one of the Gospels, 
“Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to 
every creature. He that believeth and is baptised 
shall be saved. All these signs shall follow them 
that believe; in my name shall they cast out devils; 
they shall speak with new tongues; they shall take 
up serpents, if they drink any deadly thing it shall 
not hurt them. ‘They shall lay hands on the sick 
and they shall recover.” 

Was James prescribing for apostles only, or for 
the period in which he lived, when he wrote, “ Is 
any sick among you? Let him call for the elders 
of the church, and let them pray over him, anoint- 


104 THE MIRACLES OF CHRIST 


ing him with oil in the name of the Lord, and the 
prayer of faith shall save him that is sick, and the 
Lord shall raise him up”? Were Justin Martyr, 
Ireneus, Tertullian, Origen, and Clement false in 
their claims of miracles in answer to prayer? 
Were those godly men and women of the middle 
ages, who kept the fires of a true faith smoulder- 
ing when an apostate church smothered inspiration 
itself, mistaken in supposing that these commissions 
were theirs, and their associated promises still 
potent? Was Bishop Simpson deceived when, in 
the fall of 1858, while at death’s door, he mingled 
his voice with that of Bishop Bowman, William 
Taylor, and others, asking to be recovered, and 
there came a change so sudden that the physician 
called it “a miracle,” in that he attributed it to the 
promise and power of God? Years ago, at North- 
field, Mass., I met that marvelous woman, Mrs. 
Whittemore, whose fame is in all the churches, and 
she told me how she had gone on her knees practi- 
cally a blind woman and had come up from them 
seeing clearly. Was she mistaken in attributing the 
change to the Christ of this text, of whose ministry 
it was said, “ The blind receive their sight”? To 
come nearer home, who is it that having known the 
long years of suffering on the part of Miss Hol- 
lister, of Minneapolis, and the sudden health that 
came while praying, but is led to join with the 
rulers in saying, ‘‘ That indeed a notable miracle 
hath been done is manifest, and we cannot deny 


THE MIRACLES OF CHRIST 105 


it”? God forbid that any should add, “but that 
it spread no further among the people, let us 
straightly threaten her that she speak no further in 
this name.” 

There are those who argue that if miracles were 
meant to characterise all ages they would not have 
been so common in the ministry of Jesus and so 
exceptional among His modern followers. Dr. 
Gordon tells us of certain South African rivers, 
which, instead of beginning as tiny brooks and 
flowing on deepening and widening as they go, 
burst out from prolific springs, and then become 
shallower and shallower as they go on, until they 
are lost in the wastes of sand. It cannot be for- 
gotten that the stream of salvation which began 
with the ministry of our Lord was at its fullest in 
the first century, so far at least as conquest against 
greatest odds was concerned. Why, then, should 
we be surprised if the Son of God Himself, who 
had the Spirit without measure, should witness the 
miraculous more often than appears now on the 
fields made too nearly desert by the burning sun of 
secularism and the devastating winds of scepticism ? 
And yet, the failure of present-day believers to ap- 
propriate the promises of God no more discredits 
the Divine purpose in making them than did the 
discomfiture of the disciples, praying in vain for 
the relief of the epileptic, prove that Christ had 
put into His commission to the twelve words which 
were mischievous and misleading. 


106 THE MIRACLES OF CHRIST 


III. THE MIRACLE’S PURPOSE. 

“This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana 
of Galilee, and manifested forth his glory. And 
his disciples believed on him.” 

It evidenced the deity of Jesus. You will re- 
member that when He performed the miracle of 
the barley loaves and fishes the men who saw the 
miracle that Jesus did, said, “ This is of a truth 
that prophet that should come into the world” 
(John 6:14). It was a natural reasoning. Jesus 
Himself appealed to the Jews, “If I do not the 
works of my Father believe me not. But if I do, 
though ye believe not me, believe the works, that 
ye may know and believe that the Father is in me 
and I in him” (John 10:37-38). To John the 
Baptist’s question, “Art thou he that should 
come?” Jesus answered and said unto them, ‘“ Go 
and shew John again those things which ye do 
hear and see, the blind receive their sight, the lame 
walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the 
dead are raised up, and the poor have the Gospel 
preached to them” (Matt. 11: 4-5). 

It expressed the sympathy of Jesus. It is the 
custom of all those who call the modern miracle 
into question to emphasise the fact that miracles 
attested the deity of Jesus and added authority or 
weight to His words, but the most of them are 
silent touching the fact that. miracles were ever 
wrought for their own sake, that miracles were 
ever wrought because the sight of suffering or dis- 


THE MIRACLES OF CHRIST 107 


tress so appealed to the Son of God that He could 
no more withhold His beneficent power than He 
could restrain Himself from tender pity. The 
glory of Jesus Christ consisted not alone in exhi- 
bitions of His deity, but was equally manifested in 
the ebullitions of His humanity. At the grave of 
Lazarus He ‘ wept.” No man need be surprised, 
therefore, when He cried to His friend, fallen 
under the fierce assault of the last enemy, ‘‘ Come 
forth!’ He who will may believe that that miracle 
was meant only to attest the divinity of Jesus, or 
add weight to His spoken words, but [ am com- 
pelled to think that it was the cry of His human 
heart calling back to His arms His bosom friend, 
and causing the hearts of those beautiful sisters, 
Mary and Martha, to lose their sorrow and leap 
for joy. 

Victor Hugo makes Jean Valjean as watchful as 
the hunted ever are against possible detection on 
the part of his adversary, but when a driver’s 
wagon is mired, this same man crawls beneath it, 
and by his Herculean strength releases its wheels, 
and in the very process publishes his own name. 
Did Jean Valjean lift that wagon to exhibit his 
power? Never! but because his tender human heart 
could not “pass by on the other side,” seeing the 
distress of the stalled man. The Samaritan who 
ministered to the man on the way to Jericho, bind- 
ing up his wounds, carrying him to an inn, paying 
his bills, providing against the future, did he do 


108 THE MIRACLES OF CHRIST 


that that Samaria might have a good name, or that 
anybody might believe in him? Nay, verily, but 
because in his breast there beat the heart of a 
brother. And if I know the Christ at all, He healed 
sick men, opened the eyes of the blind, and raised 
the dead primarily because His heart was as hu- 
mane as His character was Divine, His spirit as 
compassionate as His word was potent. Is it not 
written, ‘And Jesus went forth and saw a great 
multitude, and was moved with compassion toward 
them, and he healed their sick” (Matt. 14: 14)? 
No wonder John wrote, “The Word was made 
flesh and dwelt among us. And we beheld his 
glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the 
Father, full of grace.” And that glory was never 
better manifested than in the miracles that Jesus 
wrought for the help, health and happiness of men. 
It is while studying this side of His character we 
realise that our “ High Priest” can be “ touched 
with the feeling of our infirmities’? and are en- 
couraged to “come boldly to the throne of grace, 
that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in 
time of need.” 

It attested the saving power of Jesus. To do 
that was to manifest forth His glory. “The Son 
of Man was come to seek and to save that which 
was lost,” to grant “remission of sins.” They 
called His name “ Jesus’’ because He was to save 
His people from their sins. When He said to the 
paralytic, “Thy sins be forgiven thee,” they 


THE MIRACLES OF CHRIST 109 


charged Him with blasphemy, saying, “ Who can 
forgive sins but God?” “And Jesus, knowing 
their thoughts, said, Wherefore think ye evil in 
your hearts? For whether is easier to say Thy 
sins be forgiven thee, or to say, Arise, take up thy 
bed, and go unto thine house.” The Father which 
sent Him, therein bore witness to Him, “ confirm- 
ing the word with signs following’ and proving 
the power to forgive sins by the fact that He could 
restore bodies. 

It is no wonder the sentence follows, ‘‘ And his 
disciples believed on him.” God meant that men 
should be convinced through the senses, that they 
should accept what they had seen and heard. When 
John comes to write his first Epistle he lays claim 
to attention on the part of his readers by reason of 
the fact that he was speaking of the things which 
he had seen with his eyes, and heard with his ears, 
and handled of the Word of life. And if the mir- 
acle was potent for penitence and furnished the very 
basis of belief two thousand years ago, who doubts 
that the revival of the Word’s plain teaching con- 
cerning it, and the practice of claiming its prom- 
ises, would compel men to cry out again as did 
Peter, ‘‘ We are unclean,” and to seek His favour 
who is alike able to say “ Arise, take up thy bed 
and walk,” or “ Son, thy sins are forgiven thee.” 
Have we forgotten the remark which the many 
who resorted to Him beyond Jordan made? 
“John did no miracle, but all things that John 


110 THE MIRACLES OF CHRIST 


spake of this man were true and they believed on 
him there” (John 10:41-42). Have we forgot- 
ten the result when He raised to life the widow’s 
son and delivered him to his mother? ‘‘ There 
came a fear on all and they glorified God, saying, 
A great prophet is risen up among us, and God 
hath visited his people.” 

It is true that every great revival of the past 
has come in consequence of the recovery of some 
long lost truth. “The just shall live by faith,” 
bringing a revival in Luther’s time; the eternal 
sovereignty of God, adding weight to Calvin’s 
words; the personal responsibility for rejecting or 
accepting Jesus making effective the preaching of 
Wesley; the great commission giving power to 
Carey and his associates; the enduement of the 
Spirit—a second blessing, fitting for service— 
bringing great results in Finney’s day; the pre- 
millennial return of the Lord making Moody a 
flaming figure. 

Do we not recall how in the days of Josiah— 
the good king—the high priest when he searched 
through the house of the Lord found the book of 
the law given by Moses, and “ Hilkiah answered 
and said to Shaphan the Scribe, I have found the 
book of the law in the house of the Lord. And 
Filkiah delivered the book to Shaphan. And Shap- 
han carried the book to the king. . . . And it came 
to pass, when the king had heard the words of the 
law, that he rent his clothes,” and confessed “ great 


THE MIRACLES OF CHRIST 111 


is the wrath of the Lord that is poured out upon us, 
because our fathers have not kept the word of the, 
Lord, to do after all that is written in this book. 
. .. Then the king sent and gathered together all 
the elders of Judah and Jerusalem. And the king 
went up into the house of the Lord and all the 
men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, 
and the priests, and the Levites and all the people, 
great and small, and he read in their ears all the 
words of the book of the covenant that was found 
in the house of the Lord. And the king stood in 
his place and made a covenant before the Lord, to 
walk after the Lord, and to keep his command- 
ments and his testimonies, and his statutes, with 
all his heart, and with all his soul, to perform the 
words of the covenant which was written in this 
book. And he caused all that were present in 
Jerusalem and Benjamin to stand to it. And the 
inhabitants of Jerusalem did according to the 
covenant of God, the God of their fathers. And 
Josiah took away all the abominations out of all the 
countries that pertained to the children of Israel, 
and made all that were present in Israel to serve, 
even to serve the Lord their God. And all his days 
they departed not from following the Lord, the 
God of their fathers” (2 Chron. 34:15, 16, 18, 
29-33). 

I am persuaded that the truth, which when re- 
covered, shall empower an enfeebled church and 
cause “strawberry festivals to give place to the 


112 THE MIRACLES OF CHRIST 


+B 


festivals of the saints,” and which will make men 
depend not so much upon the music in the gallery, 
or the eloquence in the pulpit, or the culture in the 
pew, as upon the power of God, and finance com- 
mittees to look not to the latest fads in fair or 
festival, but to the Father who owns the cattle upon 
a thousand hills, and preachers to hope for success- 
ful meetings not from the coming of some famed 
brother, but rather from waiting in the upper room 
until they themselves have been baptised ;—the 
truth, I say, that will accomplish this change, is in 
those plain texts which prove that God is present 
in His own world, and His arm is not shortened 
that He cannot save, nor His ear heavy that He 
cannot hear. 

When men see the lesser miracles, once per- 
formed by the Son of God, being repeated in 
answer to prayer, they will be encouraged to look 
for that greatest of all His marvels, the salvation 
of sinners from sin. It is no mere accident that . 
Charles Spurgeon, who prayed for many people to 
see them made well, prayed again, and preached to 
see men saved in soul. It is no mere accident that 
George Mueller, who believed that God was present 
in His world and was working wonders, turned 
evangelist in the very last years of his life, and re- 
vivals were in his wake wherever he went. It is no 
mere chance that John Wesley, who when disabled 
with pain, fever, and cough, called on Jesus to 
restore him, that he might continue to speak, and 


THE MIRACLES OF CHRIST 113 


found, as he himself said, “ When I was praying 
my pain vanished away, my fever left me, my bod- 
ily strength returned,” was able to effectually call 
sinners to repentance, and pray successfully for 
their pardon. 

All over this country good preachers of the 
Gospel and noble souls in the pew are praying for 
a revival. In recent years plans for evangelism 
have been more extensive, expensive and emphatic 
than the church ever before knew; and right at the 
time when “the new century movement for evan- 
gelism ’’ ought to be at its height, in the very sea- 
son when the reapers should be gathering whereon 
we have sown, there come to us annual reports 
that strike the prophets of optimism into silence, 
and send the church flat on her face again to cry 
to God for help. But our cry will be like that of 
the prophets of Baal. Though it increase in agony, 
and we torture our souls as they cut their bodies, 
no fire will fall from heaven while we bow before 
the false gods of Naturalism, or worship at the 
superstitious shrines of Social Philosophy or 
Scientific Culture! 

Only by acknowledging God, by believing that 
what men have pronounced “ impossible ” is easy 
to Him, by seeing that whoever may pour on the 
extinguishing waters, He is yet able, and yet wil- 
ling, and forever pledged, setting aside your so- 
called natural law, by His own right and power, 
to let the flames fall, can we hope for that con- 


114 THE MIRACLES OF CHRIST 


flagration which shall revive God’s people, over- 
throw the prophets that oppose them, and bring 
even the unbelieving in penitence before Him to 
acknowledge that “ He is God.” 


VII 
THE MINISTRY OF CHRIST 


“And Jesus went about all Galilee . . . preach- 
ing the gospel of the Kingdom . . . and his fame 
went throughout all Syria . . . and there followed 
him great multitudes of people from Galilee, and 
from Decapolis, and from Jerusalem, and from 
Judea, and from beyond Jordan,’—Marv, 4: 23-25. 


NE afternoon, riding with two of my aged 
deacons, they talked to me about some of 
the orators it had been their privilege to 

hear, Wendell Phillips, Horace Greeley, Elihu Bur- 
ritt, Henry Ward Beecher, and others. What a 
privilege to have heard such men! No wonder the 
memory of it was fresh. But to have heard Jesus 
Christ, to have listened to Him who “ spake as 
never man spake,” to have given attention to the 
oratory of the Nazarene,—who can understand that 
experience, who can imagine that privilege? 

After two thousand years, yea, after six thou- | 
sand years of human history, He is the incom- 
parable orator, the peerless preacher, the only 
perfect prophet of God. 

We invite your attention to Christ the Preacher. 
We want to speak on four phases of this subject. 


115 


116 THE MINISTRY OF CHRIST 


I. THE SPIRIT OF JESUS THE PREACHER. 

It was that of a commissioned man. It was that 
of one who never had, who never would, who 
never could question His divine call. After thirty 
years of silence He begins to speak, and in His 
very early ministry He gives His auditors to un- 
derstand that He preaches because God appointed 
Him to that work, for in Luke 4: 16 f. we read, 
“ And he came to Nazareth where he had been 
brought up, and as his custom was, he went into 
the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up 
for to read. And there was delivered unto him 
the book of the prophet Esaias, and when he had 
opened the book, he found the place where it is 
written, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, be- 
cause he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to 
the poor: he hath sent me to heal the broken- 
hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and 
the recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty 
them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year 
of the Lord; and he closed the book, and he gave it 
again to the minister and sat down, and the eyes 
of all them that were in the synagogue were 
fastened upon him, and he began to say unto them, 
This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears: and 
all bare him witness and wondered at the gracious 
words which proceeded out of his mouth.” 

The first essential to success in the Gospel min- 
istry is a profound conviction that God has called 
one to preach. 


THE MINISTRY OF CHRIST 117 


Fis spirit was that of a conscientious man. He 
said on one occasion, “I must preach the kingdom 
of God, for therefore am I sent.’”’ You must have 
noted in the study of history that the world’s most 
eloquent men have been the world’s most consci- 
entious men. Socrates’ philosophical convictions 
accounted for his fervour and oratory. 

Savonarola was heard by thousands because he 
so honestly believed what he said. Martin Luther 
moved all Europe when he became convinced of the 
truth. Wesley, Whitfield, Edwards were orators 
from conscience. The Puritan fathers who pro- 
tested against the religion of the old world and 
the tyranny of England were peerless speakers, 
because they felt so deeply upon these subjects. 
Wendell Phillips, Abraham Lincoln, Henry Ward 
Beecher moved their auditors as they did because 
they saw in the slavery they denounced a Devil’s 
invention. No man can be truly eloquent until he 
is honest. The plainest man, the man ignorant of 
letters can hold the crowd if he speaks about a 
subject over which his heart is burdened. 

Some of you know the history of the Chinaman 
named Wang. His features rendered him almost 
hideous to look upon, but he became the most 
wonderful teacher and preacher of Hankow and 
Chung King, and when he died the native Chris- 
tians said of him, “there was no difference be- 
tween Wang and the Bible.” That was the secret 
of the eloquence of Jesus of Nazareth. 


118 THE MINISTRY OF CHRIST 


His spirit wag that of a confident man. 

He never intimated that He felt Himself un- 
equal to any occasion. He knew His intellectual 
power, and so made no apologies when Nicodemus 
appealed to Him. And when the young lawyer 
came with his questions, He answered as if He 
were conscious of the fact that divine wisdom were 
with Him, and notwithstanding the subtility of 
scribe, and the insidious purpose of Pharisee, He 
was serene before their catch-questions. 

The intellectual supremacy of the Son of God 
has not been sufficiently insisted upon. There was 
no philosophy with which He was not familiar; no 
sophistry before which He feared to stand; no 
subject to which He hesitated to speak, and His 
confidence was not that of an inflated spirit, but 
that of the man who felt His sufficiency and was 
not deceived. 

It is told that Napoleon, in his best day, would 
lie down to sleep soundly where other generals 
would not have dared close their eyes, because of 
confidence in his own ability and in that of his 
battalions. And it does seem to me that Jesus, the 
Preacher, put before His successors in office a good 
example at this point. 

If I am to speak for God, what have I to do 
with fearing the face of man? If my gospel is 
His gospel, what have I to fear from “the oppo- 
sitions of science, falsely so-called ’’ ; the sophistries 
of unbelieving men, the scepticisms of the hour, or 


-_ 


THE MINISTRY OF CHRIST 119 


all of them combined? The preacher who does not 
believe with Paul, that “ the gospel is the power of 
God unto salvation,” and cannot preach it in confi- 
dence that it will conquer, needs to sit at the feet 
of the Man of Nazareth and learn of Him, for His 
spirit was that of a confident man. 


II. THE STYLE OF JESUS, THE PREACHER. 


It is a fact, I suppose, that no preacher has ever 
made a profound impression upon the public mind 
without having peculiarities of style that in some 
measure accounted for his success; and there were 
elements that entered into the way that Jesus ut- 
tered His words that account for the statement of 
our text, “ His fame went throughout all Syria.” 

He was energetic in preaching. ‘The record gives 
abundant evidence of that fact. In Luke 4:28 we 
read, “ And all they in the synagogue, when they 
heard these things were filled with wrath.” No 
tame speaker ever excites his auditors to any 
frenzy. The trouble with the style of many men 
is that it is not energetic enough to arouse the vilest 
sinner to opposition. When He ministered in 
Jerusalem, some of the Jews asked, “Is not this he 
whom they seek to kill; but lo, he speaketh boldly, 
and they say nothing unto him.” Indeed He did! 

In human language there are no such sweet sen- 
tences as dropped from the lips of the Son of God, 
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the 
kingdom of heaven; Blessed are they that mourn, 


120 THE MINISTRY OF CHRIST 


for they shall be comforted; blessed are the meek, 
for they shall inherit the earth,” etc. ‘Come unto 
me all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I 
will give you rest.” 

But the man who supposes that Jesus was always 
using soft, sweet sentences is unacquainted with 
the New Testament record. When He spoke to 
His own disciples, to those who were trying their 
utmost to do right, He used such sentences. But 
when He spoke to the scribes and Pharisees, the 
high-headed, hypocritical pretenders of His time, 
His words cut like the surgeon’s lance, or the 
simitar of the Saracen. That accounts for the fact 
that some of the people who heard Him thought 
that He was Jeremiah, the sweet, soft-speaking 
prophet, while others said that He was Elijah, 
God’s Son of Thunder. 

None of us like to listen to the preacher who 
stirs us too deeply, who brings our faults before 
our faces, who convicts and condemns us. 

I cannot say I enjoy having my nose frost- 
bitten and my ears nipped, and when that occurs, I 
complain agianst the cold; and yet I discover, after 
all, that the bitter season brings to me the most 
exuberant health. Long since we learned to listen 
with the greatest interest to the man whose words 
stung us deepest, because we knew that he was the 
man that could break our slumbers and bring us 
to the light of God’s day, and quicken our pulse to 
the healthiest point; and of all the preachers the 


THE MINISTRY OF CHRIST 121 


world has seen, Jesus of Nazareth employed the 
style best suited to this desirable end. 

His style was dogmatic also. It could not be 
otherwise. He was no student feeling his way 
after the truth and always filled with fear that he 
had not found it. He was no reasoner who had 
to call into question every conclusion reached.» He 
was no philosopher spinning out of His own inner 
consciousness untenable theories, as spiders weave 
their webs from their own bowels to have them 
swept away with the first breath or brush. In the 
Gospel of John (12: 49-50) He tells us the source 
of His information. “I have not spoken of my- 
self, but the Father who sent me, he gave me a 
commandment what I should say, and what I 
should speak, and I know that his commandment is 
life everlasting. Whatsoever I speak, therefore, 
even as the Father said unto me, so I speak.” 

The world is full of people that rail against 
dogmatic utterances and seem to think it an evi- 
dence of intellectual superiority, and of personal 
modesty for a man not to be quite certain of any- 
thing. Our so-called liberalism boasts itself at this 
point, and well it may, for in proportion as we 
depart from the Word of God, our conclusions are 
uncertain. But the true preacher has nothing to do 
with such conclusions. 

It is not his business to dabble with them. He 
is not set to originate truth, but to repeat it; not 
set to formulate theories, but to declare God’s 


122 THE MINISTRY OF CHRIST 


revelation, and he who keeps to that has no occa- 
sion of apology, no occasion of hesitancy, no 
right to be uncertain, and of him the people 
have no right to complain any more than you have 
to complain of the messenger boy that brings 
to you a telegram the purport of which is not ex- 
actly what you like. He did not form it; he 
delivered it. It is all he has to do with it. He 
has no right to change it in one iota, e’en though 
he discover that it is not what you expect, or what 
you would like. 

It seems strange that people should not under- 
stand this fact, but the bitterest complaints that we 
have ever heard uttered against preaching have 
been lodged against the most Biblical statements, 
and oftentimes against the exact quotations from 
the Word. | 

A man present in the Calvary Church, Chi- 
cago, listened to my reading the third chapter of 
Matthew; the 8th and 9th verses; of Mark I; the 
35th verse following of the 8th chapter of Acts; 
and the 4th and 5th verses of the 6th of Romans, 
and by the time I had finished these he was in a 
white heat, although I had not uttered a word of 
comment upon any passage; and to one of my 
deacons he declared he would never enter my 
church again, for he would not have any preacher 
dogmatising to him upon the subject of baptism. 

That is what they said to Jesus, but He only re- 
plied, ‘““ My Father gave this to me to say, and I 


THE MINISTRY OF CHRIST 123 


will say it,.” And that is the only reply that any 
preacher needs to make. 

Dr. Lorimer, in his “ Argument for Christian- 
ity,’ affirms that “a preaching based upon God’s 
revelation cannot be anything else than positive.” 

His style was illustratwe, Perhaps no preacher 
the world has ever heard used as many illustrations 
as the Son of Man. 

Pastor Stalker says of His sermons, “ They 
were plentifully adorned with illustrations.” ... 
“Christ illustrated truth so constantly that the 
common objects of the country in which He resided 
are seen more perfectly in His words than in all 
the historians of the time.’ His speech was like 
a lecture with a magic lantern, scene after scene 
_ thrown upon the canvas. He made use of the cup, 
the platter, the lamp, the candle-stick, the mill- 
stones, the sewing, of the mother, of a new piece 
of cloth into an old garment; the putting of wine 
into old bottles. He pictured the hen gathering 
her chickens, the children playing in the streets. 
He painted the lilies of the field. He illustrated, 
by the crow picking up the seed, by the birds build- 
ing their nests in the branches of the trees, by the 
doves, sparrows, dogs, and swine; by the fig tree, 
by the bramble-bush, by the south wind, by the red 
sky, by the vineyard and winepress, by the yellow 
grain, by the sheep and the shepherd. He told 
stories of the Pharisee and the Publican. He told 
stories of the Priest and Levite, and of the Samari- 


124 THE MINISTRY OF CHRIST 


tan, of Dives and Lazarus, of the unmerciful ser- 
vant, of the robbers in the vineyard, of the prodigal 
son, of the wicked husbandman, of the marriage of 
the king’s son, of the ten virgins, of the talents, 
of the two debtors, the friend at midnight, the 
barren fig tree, the great supper, the lost sheep, the 
lost piece of money, the unjust steward, the unjust 
judge, the unprofitable servants, the pounds; and so 
we might go on! 

Years ago I was preaching in a Southeastern 
city. They were without a pastor, and at a din- 
ner table some brethren were discussing certain 
men, and I spoke most warmly of Dr. D. A small 
fellow present, who thought himself some great 
one, said, “I don’t like Dr. D. He is not logical 
enough. He tells too many tales in the pulpit. I 
have heard him put eight or ten into a single ser- 
mon.” I have no doubt that the very circumstance 
of his copying his Master in that matter accounted 
for his standing later in the strongest pulpit of 
England and also of this land, and being reckoned 
as one of the best Gospel preachers of his day. 

The difficulty with the audiences of many men 
that stand in pulpits is not with the people, but 
with the dry-as-dust preaching to which they have 
been subjected until they at last have departed one 
by one and left the preacher, and the choir and 
forty of the faithful to hold Sunday night services 
alone. 

Charles Spurgeon, who was himself a good illus- 


THE MINISTRY OF CHRIST 125 


tration of his claim, said to his students, “ Illus- 
trate your sermons. I have heard of a tailor who 
made a mighty fortune, and who, on his death- 
bed, called his tailor friends about him and said, 
‘ Before I go, let me give you the secret of my suc- 
cess. Always put a knot in your thread,” and 
Spurgeon adds, “ Some preachers put in the needle 
all right, but there is no knot in their thread, so it 
slips through and they have accomplished nothing. 
Brethren, what your people will best remember 
of the sermon preached will be the illustration.” 
In this matter Jesus is the Master, and no suc- 
cessor in office has so made heaven and earth, and 
all human history contribute by illustration to 
preaching. 


III. THE SUBSTANCE OF HIS SERMONS. 


If there were time we should like to speak to you 
in the third place on the substance of His sermons, 
and to show that it was serious. Read His sermons 
to see if it be not so. 

It was Scriptural! Read His sermons to see if 
it be not so. 

It related to salvation. Read His sermons and 
see if it be not so. 

But with this mere outline we pass to the more 
interesting point. 


IV. THE SUCCESS OF HIS MINISTRY. 
It varied with circumstances. ‘There are those 


126 THE MINISTRY OF CHRIST 


who think that the proper preacher will succeed 
anywhere, under any circumstances whatsoever; 
and if failure occurs, it must be the preacher’s 
fault. ‘There were several occasions upon which 
the Son of God Himself failed or succeeded but 
measurably! 

At Nazareth He accomplished nothing, because 
the people knew Him, and met His wonderful 
words with the statement, “‘ Is not this the Son of 
Joseph, and are not his brethren and sisters with 
us?” The world is full of folks who can never 
quite consent to unusual ability on the part of a 
boy with whose birth and breeding they are per- 
fectly familiar. 

There is not one church in twenty that ever calls 
to its pastorate a man who is born of God within 
its sanctuary, and brought, by the Spirit, into its 
membership. The record is that ‘‘ He could do no 
mighty works there because of their unbelief.” 

In the sixth chapter of John we find Him failing 
at another point. He had taught the people the 
necessity of receiving Him as the one through 
whom they should be saved, and had said “the 
words that I speak unto you, they are spirit and 
they are life,” and immediately there was a scatter- 
ing of His congregation, “and from that time 
many of His disciples went back and walked no 
more with Him,” and there were only the twelve 
left, and Jesus said, “ Will ye also go away?” 

In Gadara, where He healed the man and some 


THE MINISTRY OF CHRIST 127 


of the people lost their hogs in consequence, they 
insisted that He should depart out of that land. 

So let us learn once for all that it is not the 
business of any preacher to be popular, to hold 
every auditor that ever gives him attention, and to 
keep the good will of all his people. His first busi- 
ness is to declare the counsel of God, and his second 
business is to sweetly abide the consequence. 

Popularity is not the most difficult thing. I have 
no doubt Dr. S. enjoys it since he has turned 
dancing master. 

Dr. Robert F. Horton, an Englishman with 
higher critical tendencies, but one who wields a 
facile pen, says, “ There is a clergyman here in a 
fashionable English watering place who lives to 
suit himself, and tells his people not to follow his 
practice, but to act upon his precepts instead. His 
conduct was notoriously out of harmony with the 
Gospel, and yet his church was always crowded 
with young men and women who were only too 
glad to find a doctrine which could reconcile a 
certain religious profession with an unmodified 
worldliness.” 

There is much of truth in what a socialist writer 
said, “It is through the sacrifice and failure of the 
individual that human emancipation has proceeded 
from the beginning. Our ability to divinely fail 
for right’s sake is the real measure of our faith. 
It is the victory of failure that overcometh the 
world.” 


128 THE MINISTRY OF CHRIST 


And we are glad to say this, because there are 
some of our brethren who could not without being 
charged with self-defense. If our house were 
empty, if the people to whom we have preached 
had turned away, such utterances would appear to 
be in self-defense, but in the presence of a company 
which for twenty-seven years has not waned but 
waxed, we say that the Son of God was not a suc- 
cess under all circumstances, and that when the 
preacher fails the fault may be his, and it may be 
also the people’s to whom he has ministered. 

There are churches in which no mortal man 
could succeed unless the Spirit of God should come 
upon them to regenerate, and we cheerfully at- 
tribute the blessing that has been upon the people 
in our sanctuary as much, yea much more to the 
spiritual atmosphere that the godly people of the 
membership have created, than to the pastor’s 
work. And if the Son of God failed or succeeded 
according to whether the people refused Him or 
exercised faith, the preacher of this present hour 
ought to pass through exactly similar experiences, 
and will if he is faithful to his commission. 

But the failure of Jesus Christ was not His 
common experience. ‘There were those who denied 
that He had any success, and yet our text tells us 
that the ‘multitudes followed Him. His words 
moved the people of all Syria, and of all Galilee, 
and of Decapolis, and of Jerusalem, and of Judea, 
and beyond the Jordan. 


THE MINISTRY OF CHRIST 129 


It is amusing to see how certainly some people 
will insist that the preacher they do not particularly 
fancy is a failure. In Chicago, years ago, I talked 
with a man about the one Baptist pastor of that 
city who was winning more souls, planting more 
missions, raising more money for the spread of 
the Gospel, and addressing larger congregations 
than was any man in the entire city, and he said, 
“Oh, he is a failure!’ God send us more such, 
for we believe that in some measure with him, as 
we know it was in full measure with the Man of 
Nazareth, “ God was satisfied”! And therein is 
the preacher’s success. God said of Him, “ This 
is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased,” 
and of His work Christ Himself said, reviewing 
it all as He was compelled to do while hanging on 
the cross, “It is finished. Father, into thy hands 
I commend my spirit.’ 

I am asking myself, How may I be the best 
preacher to you? I am inquiring by what means 
I may lead you, my people, into the richest experi- 
ence and up to the noblest heights. I am wonder- 
ing how I can make this First Baptist Church the 
effective institution God would have it become, and 
I am compelled to believe the only secret: of success 
for me, the only hope of good for you, the only 
prospect of power for the First Baptist Church, the 
only promise of victory for time to come, is in 
looking unto Jesus and learning of Him; is by 
putting that peerless Preacher before our eyes to 


130 THE MINISTRY OF CHRIST 


see Him; is by opening our hearts to listen to Him, 
that our souls may catch His Spirit and our success 
become the sort that characterised His efforts. 

I am so constituted nervously that I cannot sit 
under any speaker for a few days without imitating 
his tones, his gestures. It matters little whether I 
admire him or not, these things make their impres- 
sion and it takes weeks for me to shake them off. 
I remember the struggle to get rid of Mr. Varley’s 
style after he had once visited our church, and for 
three or four weeks after the departure of dear 
Dr. Munhall I was chagrined by the consciousness 
of imitating him and feared that somebody would 
speak about it. Mrs. Riley did, and was answered, 
“ Dear, don’t say a thing about it. I know it, but 
I cannot help it at the present. It will take me some 
time to shake it off.” 

But there is one Preacher at whose feet I want 
to sit, whose spirit I want to study, into whose 
style I want to come, so that the success which 
characterised His ministry and pleased His God 
may come to pass in some little measure in my 
ministry, and that man is Jesus of Nazareth, the 
peerless Preacher of the centuries. 


Vill 
THE MISSION OF CHRIST 


“ And whosoever of you will be the chiefest, shall 
be servant of all. For even the Son of man came not 
to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his 
life a ransom for many.”—Marx 10: 44, 45. 


HIS text is born out of one of the trying 

experiences of Christ’s life. James and 

John, the sons of Zebedee, were apostles in 
great favour with their Lord. ‘Together with 
Peter they shared in the very secrets of His life, 
and were privileged to pass with Him into some 
realms whither the other nine could not come. 
But just as Jesus was destined to suffer denial on 
the part of Peter, and that in the hour when a 
courageous witness would have been most com- 
forting, so James and John uncovered the weak- 
ness of their characters at the very moment when 
any proper consideration of their Master’s interests 
would have shown them the shame of their words. 
Jesus had just finished saying, “ Behold, we go up 
to Jerusalem ; and the Son of man shall be delivered 
unto the chief priests, and unto the scribes; and 
they shall condemn him to death, and shall deliver 
him to the Gentiles; And they shall mock him, and 


131 


132 THE MISSION OF CHRIST 


shall spit upon him, and shall scourge him, and 
shall kill him. And after three days he shall 
rise again.” 

Ah, what a chance that prediction presented for 
the apostles to press about the Master, and pour 
out their hearts’ love in some fitting expression ; 
assure Him of their sympathy; pledge Him their 
presence to the last; and promise Him that, when 
these things were finished, and He had been taken 
from them, they would heroically, bravely, and 
faithfully carry on what He had begun to do and 
to teach. But alas, for the weakness of men, for 
the inconsiderateness of even Christians; yea, for 
the utter selfishness of chosen apostles :—‘“ There 
came near unto him James and John, the sons of 
Zebedee, saying unto him, Master, we would that 
thou shouldest do for us whatsoever we shall ask 
of thee. And he said unto them, What would ye 
that I should do for you? And they said unto him, 
Grant unto us that we may sit, one on thy right 
hand, and one on thy left hand, in thy glory. But 
Jesus said unto them, Ye know not what ye ask. 
Are ye able to drink the cup that I drink? or to be 
baptised with the baptism that I am baptised with ? 
And they said unto him, We are able. And Jesus 
said unto them, The cup that I drink ye shall 
drink; and with the baptism that I am baptised 
withal shall ye be baptised; but to sit on my right 
hand or on my left hand, is not mine to give; but 
it is for them for whom it hath been prepared. 


THE MISSION OF CHRIST 133 


And- when the ten heard it, they began to be moved 
with indignation concerning James and John, and 
Jesus said, Ye know that they that are accounted 
to rule over the Gentiles lord it over them, and 
their great ones exercise authority over them... . 
But, the Son of man came not to be ministered 
unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom 
for many.” 

Such is the ability of the Son of man to turn our 
selfish motives, our most unwarranted words, to 
our advantage; to take them, and by their very 
perverseness, teach the contrasting truth. 

And oh, what truths are in this text. Let us set 
them in order before us and then see His own 
application. Three things here about the Son 
of Man. 


I. HIS SERVICE WAS VOLUNTARY. 

“The Son of Man came not to be ministered 
unto, but to minister, and give his life a ransom 
for many.” 

He came of His own accord. “ The Son of man 
came.” I know that there are passages of Scripture 
which speak of Him as being sent of the Father,— 
for instance His words, “ He that receiveth me; 
receiveth him that sent me”; “I am not sent but 
unto the lost sheep of the House of Israel’; in the 
parable of the king—“ He sent unto them his 
son’’; etc. But there is no warrant for the idea 
that some seem to have, that Christ came because 


134 THE MISSION OF CHRIST 


the Father commanded it and compelled it. In the 
first place Christ is the Father’s equal, and not His 
inferior, to be commanded. “He thought it not 
robbery to be equal with God.” In the next 
place He and His Father are so essentially one that 
no purpose could be indulged by one of them and 
not enjoyed by the other. Then, the Word is abso- 
lutely convincing touching the fact that Christ’s 
visit to earth was as voluntary on His part as was 
His commission from the Father clear. 

It is commonly conceded that the words of the 
Psalmist are Messianic, ‘‘ Then said I, Lo, I come: 
in the volume of the book it is written of me, I 
delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is 
within my heart” (Ps. 40:7-8). That is why 
Paul, in his epistle to Titus, could speak of our 
Saviour, Jesus Christ, as one who gave Himself 
for us, ‘He gave himself for us, that he might 
redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto Him- 
self a peculiar people, zealous of good works.” If 
one turn back to the Old Testament he will find 
that the deliverers of the people had to be persuaded 
to undertake their tasks—Moses argued with God 
against his commission to Egypt; Joshua needed to 
hear the command of the Lord and be encouraged 
by the fairest and fullest promises; while Jonah 
must be sent to the bottom of the deep ere he is 
ready to execute his commission to Nineveh. It is 
not unusual for men to require coercion in accept- 
ance of duty. But, as Spurgeon says, “ The King 


THE MISSION OF CHRIST 135 


of kings and Lord of lords, the Mighty God, the 
Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace, volunta- 
rily, cheerfully descended that He might dwell 
among the sons of men, share their sorrows, and 
bear their sins, and yield Himself up a sacrifice 
on their behalf.’ ‘‘ He made himself of no repu- 
tation and took upon him the form of a servant, 
and was made in the likeness of men. And, being 
found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and 
became obedient unto death, even the death of the 
cross.” 

His compassion was His commission. He loved 
us and gave Himself for us. Ah, that is the mo- 
tive that makes the most sacrificial service volun- 
tary. I often think of what Victor Hugo wrote 
into his ‘Les Miserables.” He was speaking of 
the good Bishop Myriel, and he says, “ Sometimes 
in the midst of his reading, no matter what book 
he might have in his hands, he would suddenly fall 
into deep meditation, and when it was over, would 
write a few lines on whatever page was open before 
him.” And the author tells us that this note was 
found upon the margin of one volume—‘‘ Oh, Thou 
who art! Ecclesiastes names thee the Almighty ; 
Maccabees names thee Creator; the Epistle to the 
E‘phesians names thee Liberty; Baruch names thee 
Immensity; the Psalms name thee Wisdom and 
Truth; John names thee Light; the book of Kings 
names thee Lord; Exodus calls thee Providence; 
Leviticus, Holiness; Esdras, Justice; Creation calls 


136 THE MISSION OF CHRIST 


thee God; man names thee Father; but Solomon 
names thee Compassion, and that is the most beau- 
tiful of all thy names.” It is a name that is war- 
ranted by the Word and by His work. “ For the 
Lord is gracious, full of compassion.”’ “ His com- 
passion fails not”; “To the Lord our God be- 
longeth mercy and forgiveness, though we have 
rebelled against him.” 


Il, HIS SERVICE WAS UNSELFISH. 

“He came not to be ministered unto but to 
minister.” s 

He sought no idle sovereignty. ‘There is a vast 
deal of theology to the effect that Christ was in the 
world for His own glory, a theology which has 
no foundation in philosophy or Scripture. Christ’s 
coming to the world was not that He might be 
enthroned here, and come a prince with power, for 
men to wait upon Him, and serve Him. One 
needs to change Henry van Dyke’s words but a 
little to make them speak the very truth here sug- 
gested :—Christ’s thought of Kingship was not 
such as is to be found in the luxurious and licen- 
tious palace of the Shah of Persia; but, rather, 
as in the hospitals of Naples, where the king 
of Italy bends to help and comfort the poorest 
of his subjects. He doffed the crown and ac- 
cepted the cross; He quit the throne for the theatre 
of suffering and sorrow and the place of needed 
assistance. 


THE MISSION OF CHRIST 137 


“He courted no self-aggrandisement. ‘ Not 
to be ministered unto but to minister.” There 
was nothing for Him to gain, so far as position 
or any place of honour was concerned. As one 
has said—‘“ What could the Infinite God gain? 
Splendour! Behold the stars; far away they glit- 
ter beyond all mortal count. 

“Servants! Does He want servants? Behold 
angels in their squadrons; twenty thousand, even 
thousands of angels are the chariots of the 
Almighty. 

“Honour! Nay: the trump of fame forever 
proclaims Him Kine of kings and Lord of lords. 
Who can add to the lustre of that diadem that 
makes sun and moon grow pale by comparison? 
Who can add to the riches or the wealth of Him 
who hath all things at His disposal?” “ Not to 
be ministered unto” did He come. Have you not 
His own words, “ If I honour myself my honour is 
nothing’? And have you not read the writings of 
the apostle, “ Christ glorifieth not himself to be 
made an high priest. Though he were a son, yet 
learned he obedience by the things which he 
suffered.” | 

The Scriptures are authority for the claim that 
He kept nothing from the altar of sacrifice. The 
Revised Version shows that Paul wrote to the 
Philippians concerning Christ, “He being in the 
form of God counted it not a prize to be on an 
equality with God, but emptied himself, taking the 


138 THE MISSION OF CHRIST 


form of a servant.” And the very term “ emptied ” 
is indicative of the fact that He poured out the last 
particle of a precious life. 

His service was unselfish! 


III. HIS SERVICE WAS SUBSTITUTIONARY. 


“ And gave his life a ransom for many.” 

He gave His life. Who can tell what that 
means? Far back in the Old Testament and 
among the Levitical laws was the one, “ Ye shall 
eat no manner of blood, whether it be of fowl 
or of beast, in any of your dwellings. Whatso- 
ever soul it be that eateth any manner of blood, 
even that soul shall be cut off from his people.” 
And later, the reason for this restriction is as- 
signed, “For the life of the flesh is in the blood.” 
But when the Roman soldiers thrust the sword 
into the heart of Christ and there followed its 
receding point water and blood, that was not the 
whole of the life Jesus laid down. The beasts 
can lay down life after that manner, and they 
do it.» when the veins and arteries are open and 
the life is let out. Nor was it merely the life of 
a common man that was contributed on this 
cross. ‘There is a difference in men. All life 1s 
precious, but all human lives are not equally valu- 
able. When, some years ago, the strike was on 
in the city of Chicago, a friend of mine, serving 
in the Illinois Infantry, heard his captain say in 
defense of the command to shoot, which he had 


THE MISSION OF CHRIST 139 


given, and which resulted in the death of a num- 
ber of labourers, ‘Oh, it doesn’t matter so much. 
They are cattle anyhow. One well-bred life is 
worth a dozen of theirs.” That remark struck 
revolt into the heart of my Christian brother—as 
it ought. 

And yet no two lives are equal. There are poor 
lives and there are rich lives—in the best use of 
those terms; lives associated with an abused body, 
a starved intellect, and a withered soul. Poor in- 
deed! E;xistences they are. And then there are 
lives rich in all that makes for nobility—trich in 
thought, rich in experience, rich in noble ambi- 
tions, rich in resource, rich in service. And to 
give such a life is a gift indeed. Who shall esti- 
mate even the finite life, much less the Infinite? 
Who shall tell us the value of the highest human 
life, much less speak the meaning of the life 
Divine? Henry van Dyke, speaking of redemp- 
tion, says of Christ, ‘‘ Through loneliness and sor- 
row He descended into our grave. If it were 
merely a human being who had done this for us 
it would be much, but since it was a Divine Being 
it was infinitely more precious. Think of the Al- 
mighty One becoming weak, the glorious One 
suffering shame, the Holy One dwelling amongst 
sinners. The very Son of God pouring out His 
blood for us upon the accursed tree! It is this 
Divinity in the sacrifice that gives power to recon- 
cile and bind our heart to God.” ‘ Herein is love, 


140 THE MISSION OF CHRIST 


not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and 
sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins” 
(1 John: 4:10). 

He gave His life a ransom. In his first epistle 
to ‘Timothy, Paul confirms our text by saying, 
“There is one God and one mediator between God 
and man, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself 
a ransom for all to be testified in due time.” The 
word ransom refers always to a price paid to pro- 
cure again liberty—lost by debt; to recover the 
slave, who has sold himself, to his freedom. And, 
strange to say, the Jews in olden time seemed to 
have had an idea that they had sold themselves to 
the Evil One, and must be bought back unto that 
God who rightly owned them. Consequently there 
was a redemption price. For every Israelitish soul, 
the tithe drachma must be paid by the rich and 
the poor alike, ere one could be enrolled as the 
redeemed of the Lord. The day has come when 
men are trying to disavow the whole theory of 
redemption at the cost of Christ’s life. 

Wn. Fredrick, in his volume “ Three Prophetic 
Days,’ after having written most logically and 
Scripturally for 190 pages, strangely turns aside 
to say, “ The Bible nowhere teaches that Jesus 
was our substitute, and was crucified for us, or | 
in our stead. It does teach that He is our ex- 
ample, and the way to eternal life.’ And again, 
“Jesus does not bear any of our sins and griefs, 
but He does what is infinitely better for us, in 


THE MISSION OF CHRIST 141 


that He teaches us to bear our own sins and 
griefs. He can no more bear our sins than the 
mother can walk for her child.” 

“To the law and to the testimony, if they speak 
not according to this Word there is no light in 
them.” The text says, “ He gave his life a ransom 
for many.” 

Long ago, Isaiah, by the pen of inspiration, fully 
elaborated the atoning work of Christ, and, con- 
trary to the claim of these modern writers, Isaiah 
says :—‘ Surely he hath borne our griefs (or, as 
the Hebrew says, our sicknesses) and carried our 
sorrows. He was wounded for our transgressions ; 
he was bruised for our iniquities ; and the chastise- 
ment of our peace was upon him; and with his 
stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone 
astray; we have turned every one to his own way; 
and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of 
us all.” Paul writes to the Romans in these 
words, speaking of Jesus—‘‘ He was delivered up 
for our trespasses”’; and again that “He died 
for the ungodly.” And yet again he says, “I 
delivered: unto you first of all that which I also 
received, how that Christ died for our sins, ac- 
cording to the Scripture.” Peter, in his first 
epistle, says, “‘ Christ also hath once suffered for 
sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he 
might bring us to God” (3:18). And this strong 
expression is employed by the same apostle: 
“who his own self bare our sins in his body 


142 THE MISSION OF CHRIST 


upon the tree, that we, having died unto sins, 
might live unto righteousness; by whose stripes 
ye were healed.”’ It will be a dark day for the 
Church of God when it departs from the teach- 
ings of the Word on this essential truth. “ He 
gave his life a. ransom.” 

In his sermon on “Conqueror from Edom,“ 
Phillips Brooks says—‘‘ My friends, far be it from 
me to read all the deep mystery that is in this 
picture. Only this I know is the burden and soul 
of it all, this truth, that sin is a horrible, strong, 
positive thing, and that not even Divinity grapples 
with him and subdues him except in strife and pain. 
What pain may mean to the Infinite and Divine, 
what difficulty may mean to Omnipotence, I cannot 
tell, Only I know that all that they could mean, 
they mean here. This symbol of the blood bears 
this great truth, which has been the power of sal- 
vation to millions of hearts, and which must make 
this conqueror the Saviour of our hearts, too, the 
truth that only in self-sacrifice and suffering could 
even God conquer sin. 

‘“‘Sin is never so dreadful as when we see the 
Saviour with that blood upon His garments. And 
the Saviour Himself is never so dear, never wins 
so utter and so tender a love, as when we see what 
it has cost Him to save us. Out of that love, born 
of His holy suffering, comes the new impulse after 
a holy life; and so, when we stand at last purified 
by the power of grateful obedience, binding our 


THE MISSION OF CHRIST 143 


holiness and escape from our sin close to our Lord’s 
struggle with sin for us, it shall be said of us that 
we have ‘ washed our robes and made them white 
in the blood of the Lamb.’ ” 

Major Whittle tells a story of a company of 
bushwhackers in Missouri under arrest during the 
days of the Civil War. They were sentenced to be 
shot. A boy touched the arm of the commander 
and said, “ Wouldn’t you allow me to take the place 
of the man standing yonder? He has a family and 
will be greatly missed.” When the officer gave his 
permission the’ boy stepped forward, and the com- 
mand to shoot was given. The boy fell dead, and 
in that land today is a grave inscribed, ‘‘ Sacred to 
the memory of Willie Lear. He took my place.” 
If I understand the Book in any measure that 
is the meaning of this text, ‘He gave his life 
a ransom.” My life and yours were redeemed at 
such a price! The Son of God stood in the sin- 
ner’s place, and in His own body and spirit en- 
dured the judgment due sinners; and having paid 
the redemption price, demands as His eternal right 
your pardon and mine; your freedom and mine; 
your life and mine! 

I am glad for the concluding word: 

He redeemed a multitude. A dying monk is said 
to have put aside extreme unction, all the cere- 
monies of the church, and lifting his eyes to heaven 
he said, “ Tua vulnera Jesu ’’—‘‘ Thy wounds, my 
Jesus! Thy wounds, my Jesus!” It is blessed to 


144 THE MISSION OF CHRIST 


know that that monk was only one of a multitude 
whose hope of life rests in the same crucified one. 
If one would like to know how many, turn to the 
book of Revelation, the seventh chapter, and read, 
“After this, I beheld and lo, a great multitude 
which no man can number, out of every nation, 
and of all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing 
before the throne and before the Lamb, arrayed in 
white robes, and palms in their hands; and they 
cry unto our God which sitteth on the throne, and 
unto the Lamb.” 

There is a glorious passage in the epistle to the 
Romans which reads:—‘ Therefore, as through 
one man sin entered into the world, and death 
through sin; and so death passed unto all men, for 
that all sinned:—for until the law sin was in the 
world: but sin is not imputed when there is no 
law. Nevertheless death reigned from Adam until 
Moses, even over them that had not sinned, after 
the likeness of Adam’s transgression, who is a 
figure of him that was to come. But not as the 
trespass, so also is the free gift. For if by the 
trespass of the one the many died, much more did 
the grace of God, and the gift by the grace of the 
one man, Jesus Christ, abound unto the many” 
(Romans 5: 12-15 R. V.). | 


IV. HIS SERVICE WAS AN ENSAMPLE. 


Jesus distinctly tells us so in the text of this 
chapter, ‘‘ Whosoever would be first among you 


THE MISSION OF CHRIST 145 


shall be servant of all.”’ And then illustrates, “ for 
the Son of man came not to be ministered unto 
but to minister.” 

Christ’s conduct, then, is choice, not coercion. 
The grace of giving sums up God’s whole senti- 
ment of service. “Every man according as he 
purposeth in his heart so let him give. Not grudg- 
ingly or of necessity, for God loveth a cheerful 
giver.” And again, “ The Lord spake unto Moses, 
saying, Speak unto the Children of Israel that they 
bring an offering. And every one that giveth it 
willingly with his heart, they shall take my offer- 
ing.” ‘There is not a service we are to render to 
God, but this same spirit of willing response is to 
characterise it. What would God have you do? 
Teach in the Sunday School; take a class in a mis- 
sion; go on the street and give out invitations to 
the Gospel services; go sit down beside some con- 
victed or indifferent soul and speak the words of 
truth and life; give of your means for the advance 
of the Gospel; give your children for work on the 
foreign field; give yourself for whatsoever He 
saith. It must be done willingly, cheerfully. Aye, 
even gladly, or else it can hardly be acceptable 
unto God. 

Years since, at a Christian Alliance camp meet- 
ing at Round Lake, Saratoga, there was present a 
Miss Louise Shepherd. Her home was in New 
York, and the season before she had been a society 
belle in this city of Saratoga. But the grace of 


146 THE MISSION OF CHRIST 


God had come into her heart and she had professed 
conversion. One morning the hour was given to 
a study.of foreign mission work. An earnest ad- 
dress had been delivered by Dr. Simpson, and an 
appeal was made for money to send the light to 
men and women who sit in darkness. And to the 
surprise of many, Miss Shepherd walked forward, 
stripped the diamonds from her fingers, and laid 
them down on the table, saying, “I purpose to give 
these now to carry forward the work among the 
heathen. I regard them as useless ornaments, but 
I know their value to the cause of Christ and I 
gladly contribute them.” There were thousands of 
dollars that immediately followed. But you will 
agree that if Miss Shepherd had made that sacri- 
fice with tears and agony, and because God had 
commanded it, the people would not have been 
stirred, and such a spirit take possession of them 
that day when they saw this young woman twenty- 
two years of age, illustrating Moses’ words, “ All 
things come of thee, and of thine own have we 
given thee.” 

When, some time ago, Miss Edna G. Terry 
returned to China for her second term of service 
as a missionary, in a degraded section, she said :— 
“Tf we went for money there is not enough money 
to induce us to live amid the depressing influences 
of this heathen darkness. But when we consider 
that it is for Christ’s sake, and feel the necessity, 
we willingly, aye, gladly undertake the service for 


THE MISSION OF CHRIST 147 


Him.” And this same Miss Terry was one of the 
young women who, in the Boxer trouble, just as 
willingly laid down her life. 

Oh, beloved, living as so many of us this day 
in a beautiful land, swept about on every side with 
surpassing scenery, surrounded with luxuries, and 
enjoying the fruitage of the first civilisation of the 
world, and the favour of the very God of the 
heaven, Himself, can we not be Christians in 
the best sense of the word, “‘ ministers and servants 
of the Lord Jesus Christ ’’? 

Christ's supremacy comes through — service. 
Christ never said to these two ambitious apostles 
that there was no higher place in His Kingdom. 
But He did say that the highest place was ap- 
pointed for the man who rendered the best service, 
who could endure the most suffering, who could 
make the greatest sacrifice. The longer I live the 
more profoundly I am impressed with the fact that 
these opportunities for service are varied and all 
suited to the conditions of every man who has in 
him the spirit of service. One doesn’t have to be 
a preacher in order to prove the truth that service 
to Christ makes for the highest character. He does 
not necessarily need to express himself in words; 
gifts and deeds are as eloquent as language, and 
sometimes even more effective, and the humblest 
service and the smallest gifts may be the means of 
one’s exaltation to the highest honour. In 1877 
Mr. Moody was holding meetings in Boston. Fol- 


148 THE MISSION OF CHRIST 


lowing his usual custom, he went to a fine-looking 
man in the front seat and asked, “ Are you a Chris- 
tian?” “ Yes,” replied the man. “ Then go over 
and talk to that woman.” “ Oh, I can’t do that. I 
never tried to speak to an inquirer.’ “ But she ts 
a woman just ready to come to Christ, and you said 
you were a Christian, didn’t you?” “ Yes, but I 
can’t do it.”’ Mr. Moody left him and went to the 
woman at once. The babe in her arms was so 
restless that she could pay but little attention to 
his words. And that fine fellow, seeing the situ- 
ation, came down where they were, and, smiling at 
the baby, and taking a piece of candy from his 
pocket, carried her off to another part of the room 
and for an hour kept her while Mr. Moody was 
able to lead the woman to Christ. And speaking 
of it afterward Moody said, “I think an especial 
blessing rested upon that service, for not only was 
the mother converted, but her little girl became a 
Christian at the age of twelve, through her 
mother’s influence, and proved to be one of the 
most aggressive workers.” 

Beloved, service for God has the way of success. 
It is not mine to say how you shall render it. The 
Spirit Himself alone can prescribe that, but I tell 
you the chief places in heaven are reserved for the 
man who can be baptised with the baptism Christ 
was baptised with—the baptism of service; the 
baptism of suffering, of sacrifice. 

All Christ's sacrifice ts substitutionary. We 


THE MISSION OF CHRIST 149 


never put aside a single pleasure for Christ’s sake; 
we never crucify a single lust of the flesh in His 
name; we never make a sacrifice of time; but we 
are illustrating the doctrine of substitution—we are 
doing this that another might be blessed by it— 
whether we know it or not. There are plenty of 
people who are willing to tell you that you are 
foolish to be giving of your means and your money 
to help other people out of their poverty; to bring 
benighted souls out of sin, and consequent suffer- 
ing. They think that charity begins at home. And 
one is to consider himself first, last and all the time. 
And yet the sanest judgment of the civilised world 
is to the fact that a man who makes sacrifices for 
another’s sake is the one living an ennobling life. 
I never think of Gov. Briggs, of Massachusetts, 
without remembering how perfectly he illustrated 
the great principle of this chapter’s text. You 
know that for years he went with a cravat on his 
neck, but no collar. People attributed it to eccen- 
tricity, and he permitted it and was silent. After 
his death the secret came out. One day, talking 
with a drunkard, he was trying to persuade him to 
let the drink alone, and among other things said, 
“You know there are many things we do that are 
not necessary.” ‘ Yes,” said the man, “ for in- 
stance, it is not necessary for you to wear that 
collar.” Governor Briggs immediately replied, “ If 
you will agree never to take another drink, I will 
agree never to wear a collar.” “TI will do it,” said 


150 THE MISSION OF CHRIST 


the inebriate. And so one man was saved. And 
when the Governor died they laid him in the 
coffin without a collar, and one man, looking down 
into his face, was strengthened in his resolve to be 
true to his pledge, as he remembered what another 
had done for his sake. 

And it is in the power of many of us to part 
with comforts, that men under the power of sin 
may be brought to Christ. 


“No radiant pearl which crested fortune wears, 
No gem that twinkling hangs from beauty’s ears 
Shines with such lustre as the tear that flows 
Down manly virtue’s cheek for others’ woes.” 


IX 
THE ATONEMENT OF CHRIST 


“There is one God, and one mediator between 
God and men, the man Christ Jesus; who gave him- 
self a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.’— 
I Tim. 2: 5-6. 


HE, Apostle’s assertion is warranted by His 

Master’s words in Matthew 20:28 and 

Mark 10:45. This was a part of the faith 
once for all delivered. The age in which we are 
living is ripe with scepticism. Young people are 
in danger of believing a sneer at the faith of the 
fathers a sign of smartness. As Dr. Lorimer once 
said: “ Young men, very young men have been 
known to talk flightily of the world’s dispensing 
with religion; of this age having outgrown its 
authority; and of themselves having attained to 
such enlightenment of mind and of liberty of 
thought as to be quite delivered from subjection to 
its influence and teaching.” Some older men who 
take their knowledge at second-hand, hearing of 
the work of higher critics, have concluded that 
Jehoiakim’s pen-knife has at last prevailed, and 
the Word of God is cut to pieces, and the pillars 

151 


152 THE ATONEMENT OF CHRIST 


of Christianity are removed, and the whole system 
is ready to collapse. 

At the time of the Imperial Diet at Augsburg 
in 1630, when the teachings of the Bible seemed 
in imminent danger of being overthrown and 
Chancellor Bruck was filled with alarm, lest. that 
should be accomplished, Martin Luther, the master 
of logic, wrote to him: “I have lately seen a mir- 
acle. As I looked out of the window at the stars 
and God’s whole heavenly dome, I nowhere saw 
any pillars on which the Master had placed such a 
dome, but the heavens fell not, and the dome still 
stands fast. Now, there are some who seek such 
pillars, and would like very much to feel and grasp 
them, but because they cannot do it, they tremble 
and writhe, as if the heavens would certainly fall 
for no other reason than that they do not see or 
grasp the pillars”; but I would sooner expect to 
see the heavens fall than one jot or tittle of all the 
Word fail. The Psalmist said: “The counsel of 
the Lord standeth forever,’ and Paul wrote to 
Timothy touching Hymenzus and Philetus; who 
had erred from the truth, and had overthrown the 
faith of some, ‘“ Nevertheless, the foundation of 
God standeth sure. Having this seal the Lord 
knoweth them that are his.” 

The test to which Isaiah subjected the philoso- 
phers of his time is the true test for all philosophy 
and all scepticism. “To the law and to the testi- 
mony, if they speak not according to this Word it 





THE ATONEMENT OF CHRIST 153 


is because there is no light in them.” Some time 
since there was talk of a heresy trial for a noted 
minister because he was supposed to have departed 
from the Presbyterian standards. In our judg- 
ment, it amounts to very little whether a man stand 
by the standards of his church or not except those 
standards be supported by the Scripture. It makes 
little difference whether one speak the shibboleth 
of his sires or not, unless those sires rightly studied 
and understood the Word of God. But so far as 
the faith of the fathers is in accordance with the 
law and the prophets, it is the faith to which we 
must hold fast or else go utterly adrift. Now, in 
the light of our text, let us consider some of the 
great subjects involved in the same, and included 
by our subject. 


LS ha 


5) 


“The law and the prophets” spoke to this sub- 
ject, and the fathers formulated their opinions. 
The law and the prophets agreed: “ The soul that 
sinneth, it shall die.” , The apostle said: “If we 
say we have no sin we deceive ourselves and the 
truth is not in us; if we confess our sins, he is 
faithful and just to forgive us our sins.” 

Both Moses and F.zekiel agreed in their definition 
of sin,—“ the transgression of the law.’ “ Of the 
tree of the knowledge of good and evil,” the law 
said, “thou shalt not eat of it, for in the day that 
thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die,” and in 


154 THE ATONEMENT OF CHRIST 


his first epistle, John wrote: ‘ Whosoever com- 
mitteth sin, transgresseth also the law, for sin is 
the transgression of the law.” For hundreds of 
years now, the Christian fathers have not so much 
interpreted Moses, Ezekiel and John as they have 
accepted their statement. This modern fad of a 
faith which says in so many words, “ God or good- 
ness could never make men capable of sin; that it 
is the opposite of good, that is, evil which seems 
to make men capable of wrong, and that evil is but 
an illusion, and error had no real basis except 
belief,’ is as far removed from the Law, the 
Prophets, and the Gospel as it is from the faith of 
the Christian fathers, and instead of calling it 
“Christian Science,” it ought to be named “ Un- 
christian Scepticism.” 

Again, the fathers reckoned sin a voluntary m- 
iquity. Dr. van Dyke, in the face of much argu- 
ment to the contrary, says: “It can only be re- 
garded as a ‘deliberate choice.” And again, 
“nothing that Jesus said or did led His disciples 
to minimise or disregard sin, to cover it up with 
flowers, to transform it into a mere defect or mis- 
take, to deny its reality and explain it away, to say, 
‘the evil is nought, is null, is silence, implying 
sound.’ ‘The whole effect of His mission, what- 
ever form it may have taken, whatever His teach- 
ings may have been—its undeniable effect was to 
intensify the consciousness of sin as a fatal thing.”’ 
It ought not to be difficult for one who loves the 


ee 


THE ATONEMENT OF CHRIST 155 


Scripture to decide between that definition of sin 
which declares “it is nothing, silence, implying 
sound,” and the teaching of our fathers concern- 
ing the same sad experience. Saint John says: 
“This is the condemnation, that light is come into 
the world and men loved darkness rather than light 
because their deeds were evil.” Paul declares: 
“ All have sinned and come short of the glory of 
God,” and again, “ Death passed upon all men for 
that all have sinned.” James adds: “ For whoso- 
ever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one 
point, he is guilty of all,’ while John of Patmos 
writes, “If we say we have not sinned, we make 
God a liar and his truth is not in us.” 

When one listens to that modern argument, to 
the effect that Satan does not exist, and that sin is 
only an illusion, and the only power in this world 
is God, he is strongly reminded of the discussion 
that occurred at Northampton between Dr. Em- 
mons, who boldly taught that God was the author 
of sin, and some Christian men of that place who 
emphatically denied it. When the discussion had 
waxed hot, one of Emmons’ opponents said: “ Re- 
cently, while travelling in West England, I had a 
vision, and saw a great black cloud out of which 
gradually developed a figure much like a man, only 
hideous in his mien. He told me he was the 
Devil, and when I inquired where he was going 
he flew into a great rage and said that every mean 
crime, great or small, committed in England was 


156 THE ATONEMENT OF CHRIST 


laid to his charge, and that he was starting to 
Northampton, America, where such transactions 
were charged to the Almighty instead.” ‘“ Let no 
man say, when he is tempted, I am tempted of 
God, for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither 
tempteth he any man.” 

The fathers also believed that sin was deadly and 
destructive. We have seen that ‘the law and the 
prophets’ were responsible for this faith of our 
fathers, the first teaching, “the soul that sinneth, 
it shall die,” and the second saying, “ sin, when it 
is finished, bringeth forth death.’ 

The great Dr. Guthrie, speaking of this uni- 
versal derangement of humankind, said: “ Look 
now at sin. Pluck off that painted mask, and 
turn upon her face the lamp of God’s Word. We 
start—it reveals a death’s head. I stay not to 
quote texts descriptive of sin. It is a debt, a bur- 
den, a thief, a sickness, a leprosy, a plague, a poi- 
son, a serpent, a sting: everything that man hates 
it is; a load of curses, and calamities beneath whose 
crushing, most intolerant pressure the whole cre- 


ation groaneth. Name me the evil that springs not _ 


from this root—the crime that I may not lay at its 
door. Who is the hoary sexton that digs man a 
grave? Who is that painted temptress that steals 
his virtue? Who is this sorcerer that first deceives, 
and then damns his soul? Sin. Who with icy 
breath, blights the fair blossoms of youth? Who 
breaks the hearts of parents? Who brings old 


ee a 


THE ATONEMENT OF CHRIST 157 


men’s gray hairs with sorrow to the grave? Sin. 
Who, by a more hideous metamorphosis than Ovid 
fancied, changes gentle children into vipers, tender 
mothers into monsters, and their fathers into mur- 
derers of their own innocents? Sin. Who casts 
the apple of discord on household hearths? Who 
lights the torch of war, and bears it blazing over 
trembling lands? Who, by divisions in the church, 
rends Christ’s seamless robe? Sin. Who hurls 
reason from her lofty throne, and impels sinners, 
mad as Gadarene swine, down the precipice, into a 
lake of fire? Sin.” 

But it is only saddening to listen to the Scrip- 
ture teachings concerning sin, unless one searches 
farther into the Word to find out a second subject 
in which the Apostles, Prophets, and the fathers 
were interested, namely,— 


II. ATONEMENT. 


I hardly need to define this term. Break the 
word up and it reveals at once its own meaning, 
“at-one-ment.” It is simply the process of re- 
uniting those who, rightfully belonging together, 
have wrongfully separated. Years ago a young 
man came to me for a private conversation. Be- 
tween sobs he managed to tell me how drunken- 
ness on his part had resulted in his wife’s separa- 
ting herself from him. And as the great waves of 
sorrow surged over his sobered spirit, he said: “1 
shall die unless we can be brought together again.” 


158 THE ATONEMENT OF CHRIST 


I managed, a day or two later, to get them together 
in my study, and, through counsel and prayer, effect 
a permanent reconciliation. By my counsels I 
made atonement for them. But, when in Hall 
Caine’s “‘ Bondman,” Michael Sunlocks and his 
beautiful Greeba had been separated, and he was 
living under the condemnation of civil law, and 
labouring under false impressions and going blind 
at the same time, there was but one way in which 
to effect atonement for them, and that way Jason 
the Red took when he turned the key that unlocked 
Michael’s cell, and led him out to be again with 
Greeba, and to have his misunderstandings cor- 
rected, his eyes opened, and to come into a perfect 
knowledge of her unspeakable and unfaltering af- 
fection; and turned the key again to lock himself 
in until the time of sunrise when Jorgen Jorgen- 
son’s soldiers should come and pour lead into his 
body, and leave him a lifeless corpse on the sunlit 
hill. He effected an atonement. And it was this 
method of atonement our Master employed for the 
sake of sinful men. He brought them back to God 
by standing in their stead, and dying, so that they 
living could enjoy the Infinite’s love. 

The old faith was that “man’s need made such 
atonement necessary.” The law declared it, the 
prophet affirmed it, the fathers believed it. 

We listened one day to a talk on Prohibition by 
Oliver Stewart, in which he made tender and 
beautiful reference to the death of Nathan Hale. 


THE ATONEMENT OF CHRIST 159 


He told how, when he walked down Broadway, 
New York City, near the City Hall, he came in 
view of the bronze statue. The arms are pinioned, 
the feet are tied with cords, the shirt collar is 
thrown open, the handsome face is marred with 
the shadows of the sufferings that preceded death. 
And, at first thought, you might imagine that the 
statue was the statue of a criminal, but when you 
read the inscription on the pedestal, “I regret that 
I have but one life to give for my country,’ and 
underneath that splendid sentence the name, 
“Nathan Hale,” it leads your thought back into 
the history of that Revolutionary time, and back 
to the day when the American forces found it 
necessary to send one of their men in disguise into 
the English camp. And when the commanders 
said, ‘‘ The man who undertakes this may be de- 
tected, and if detected, will certainly be executed 
by the enemy,’ Nathan Hale stood forth and 
said: “For my country’s sake, I will go.” He 
knew that it might mean death. But he also 
knew that it might effect deliverance and bring 
victory. 

Do you remember what Caiaphas the High Priest 
said, when the chief priests and the Pharisees were 
arguing concerning Jesus, “ If we let him alone, all 
men will believe on him, and the Romans shall 
come and take away both our place and our na- 
tion.’ Caiaphas said unto them, “ Ye know 
nothing at all, nor consider that it is expedient that 


160 THE ATONEMENT OF CHRIST 


one man should die for the people, and that the 
whole nation perish not; and this spake he not of 
himself; but being high priest that year, he prophe- 
sied that Jesus should die for that nation, and not 
for that nation only, but that also he should gather 
together in one the children of God that were scat- 
tered abroad.” 

The law and the prophets are agreed that in His 
grace God provided atonement. 

The fathers have been faithless concerning some 
doctrines of Scripture and confused regarding 
others, but never once have Christian men mis- 
understood John 3: 16,—‘ God so loved the world 
that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever 
believeth on him should not perish but have ever- 
lasting life.” It does seem that a proper under- 
standing of that single Scripture ought to suffice 
to bring men to the keenest sense of sin and also to 
show them the way of salvation out of it. 

Dr. Chapman tells us, that just over the line that 
separates Indiana from Ohio and on the Ohio side 
there lived an old woman who was the terror of 
all who had seen or heard of her. She was finally 
arrested, and sent to the Columbus Penitentiary. 
She broke every law of the institution, and they 
exhausted every form of punishment upon her. 
Times without number they had sent her to the 
dungeon, and for weeks at a time she lived on 
bread and water. Finally an old Quaker lady from 
the same part of the state asked permission to see 


THE ATONEMENT OF CHRIST 161 


her. The prisoner was led into her presence with 
the chains upon her hands and feet. With down- 
cast eyes she sat before the messenger of Christ. 
The old Quaker lady simply said: ‘ My sister.” 
The old woman cursed her, and then she said: “I 
love you.” With another oath, she said: “‘ No one 
loves me.’”’ But she came still nearer, and taking 
the sin-stained face in both her hands, she lifted it 
up and said: “I love you, and Christ loved you.” 
She kissed her face first upon one cheek and then 
upon the other, and she broke the woman’s heart. 
Her tears began to flow like rain. She rose to her 
feet. They took the chains off, and until the day 
of her death they were never put on again, but like 
an angel of mercy she went up and down the cor- 
ridors of the prison, ministering to the wants of 
others. 

It is the goodness of God that leadeth thee to re- 
pentance, and the man who is not brought to recon- 
ciliation with the Father by the sight of His suffer- 
ing, dying Son, whose agony on the cross was the 
only adequate expression of God’s pity and love 
for the sinner, is a lost man, and his heart is already 
turned to stone. 

Finally, the fathers held that Christ’s atonement 
was the one and only way of salvation; and the 
law and the Gospel agreed together in confirming 
the fathers in this faith. It was Moses who wrote 
of the seed of woman, and of the serpent, “ it shall 
bruise thy head,” and it was the great apostle who 


162 THE ATONEMENT OF CHRIST 


said: “ God commendeth his love toward us in that 
while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. 
Much more then being justified by his blood we 
shall be saved from wrath through him, for if when 
we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the 
death of his Son, much more being reconciled, we 
shall be saved by his life; and not only so, but we 
also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ by 
whom we have received the atonement” (Rom. 
5: 8-11). 

Dr. F. B. Meyer tells the story taken from Ade- 
laide Procter, of a young girl who had lived centu- 
ries ago in a convent in France. She was sweet 
and pure and admired of all who saw her. Her 
work was to care for the altar of Mary, and answer 
the portal. Wars swept over France, and brought 
the soldiers to the convent, and one that was 
wounded was given into her care. When he re- 
covered he persuaded her to leave the convent. She 
went with him to Paris, where she lost her good 
name and everything that made life worth living. 

Years passed, and she came back to die within 
the sound of the convent bell. She fell fainting 
upon the steps, and there came to find her, not such 
a one as she had been, but such a one as she would 
have been, a pure and noble matron. She picked 
her up and carried her into the convent, and placed 
her on her bed. All the years that she had been 
gone, she had faithfully done her work, and none 
knew of her disgrace; so she glided back into her 


THE ATONEMENT OF CHRIST 163 


old place, and until the day of her death no one 
ever knew of her sin. All this Christ has done for 
me. I like to think that I was chosen in Him 
before the foundation of the world, that He had 
me in mind when He suffered and died, that He has 
made up before God for all that I have failed to 
do, and when I stand before Him, it will be as if 
I never had sinned in all my life. 


Xx 


CHRIST’S RESURRECTION AND 
ASCENSION 


“ He is risen, as he said.”—Mart. 28: 6. 
“While they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud 
received him out of their sight”’—Acts 1:9. 


HE question proposed for this discussion 
involves the very citadel of Christianity. 
The apostle Paul reasons, with a logic that 
cannot be gainsaid, that “if Christ be not risen 
from the dead our faith is vain.’”’ The dead have 
perished and the living are without hope. 
' But the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the 
dead is in itself not sufficient. The ascension is 
absolutely necessary to the completion of His 
claims, and the exercise of His powers. Our 
question, then, couples two words which are 
complementary. The resurrection without the 
ascension would prove nothing more than a reani- 
mation; a Lazarus and not a Lord. An ascen- 
sion without a resurrection would demonstrate 
nothing better than translation—a prophet Elijah 
perhaps; but not the Son of God with whom is 
all power. 
It was a marvelous thing that Jesus was begotten 


164 


RESURRECTION AND ASCENSION — 165 


by the Holy Ghost. But even that would not 
demonstrate, above discussion, His essential deity. 
Adam was the generation of the Spirit and not that 
of a human father. The working of miracles on 
the part of Jesus is not a sufficient evidence of His 
claim. Miracles occurred under the hands of 
Moses, and Elijah, and others, who were nothing 
more than men of marked faith in the Almighty. 
The one who sets up a claim as the very Christ of 
God must not only bring us certain evidence of 
Divine appointment, such as mortal men have en- 
joyed, but a chain of evidences stretching from 
His first appearance in the world clear on to His 
second coming, and every link thereof must bear 
the imprint of the superhuman. 

It will be conceded, I think, that the central 
argument, of all the arguments presented in the 
name of Christ, rests with this question, Did He 
rise from the dead and ascend into heaven? 

In answer to that I bring you first of all these 
texts from the Scripture, and in elaboration of 
these suggest some thoughts for solemn reflection. 


I. ARGUMENT FOR THE RESURRECTION. 


It is not begging the question to appeal to the 
Bible for arguments of the resurrection. Even 
infidels concede that the Old Testament Scriptures 
were in the hands of men when Jesus of Nazareth 
walked the earth; and very few intellectually 
honest men question that the New Testament was 


166 RESURRECTION AND ASCENSION 


born within a century after His reputed ascension. 
If, therefore, they are not trustworthy, scepticism 
has already enjoyed two thousand years of oppor- 
tunity to disprove their statements. If, at the end 
of this time, the statements stand and gather to 
themselves an ever-increasing company who consent 
that they have made good their right to a place in 
the catalog of historical facts, why should we not 
appeal to them in discussing the very subject that 
gave them their existence? 

According to the Scriptures there are many lines 
of argument for the resurrection. Let me make 
mention of four. 

The argument of the Empty Tomb. “ In the end 
of the sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the 
first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and 
the other Mary to see the sepulchre. And, behold, 
there was a great earthquake: for the angel of the 
Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled 
back the stone from the door, and sat upon it. His 
countenance was like lightning, and his raiment 
white as snow; and for fear of him the keepers 
did shake, and became as dead men. And the 
angel answered and said unto the women, Fear 
not ye: for I know that ye seek Jesus, which 
was crucified. He is not here: for he is risen, as 
he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay ” 
(Matt. 28: 1-6). 

That statement is either true or false. If false, 
why did not the enemies of Christ expose the de- 


RESURRECTION AND ASCENSION _ 167 


ception? That He had enemies not even infidels 
question. That He was hunted to the cross, no one 
now disputes. That He was buried is as certain 
as the execution of Roman law. What became of 
the body? ‘This was the very thing His enemies 
had feared. They had reminded Pilate of His 
prophecy, “ After three days I will rise again,” and 
had asked that the sepulchre be made sure until the 
third day. And Pilate had said unto them, “ Ye 
have a watch: go your way, make it as sure as ye 
can.” “ So they went, and made the sepulchre sure, 
sealing the stone, and setting a watch.” But when 
the resurrection was accomplished “some of the 
watch came unto the city, and shewed unto the 
chief priests all the things that were done. And 
when they were assembled with the elders, and 
had taken counsel, they gave large money unto 
the soldiers, saying, “Say ye, his disciples came 
by night, and stole him away while we slept. 
And if this come to the governor’s ears, we will 
persuade him, and secure you. So they took the 
money, and did as they were taught, and this 
saying is commonly reported among the Jews until 
this day.” 

It is a singular thing, yet a certain one, that 
people can never manufacture a falsehood the 
various parts of which can hang together. And 
when they asked the watchers to testify that they 
had slept on duty until Jesus had been stolen away 
from His grave, they confessed to a fault, of which 


168 RESURRECTION AND ASCENSION 


Roman watchers dare not be guilty on the very 
peril of life itself ; and yet, from that hour no better 
explanation of an empty tomb has been furnished 
the world. Within a century after these reputed 
events the whole Roman empire was permeated by 
the doctrines of Christ, and men by the thousands 
and tens of thousands believed on Him as risen 
from the dead. ‘The argument that entered into 
the conviction of the first century was that of the 
empty tomb. 

There is the argument of the word of the angel 
to the women. When you get together a company 
of spiritualists, everyone expecting to see a spook, 
it is fairly easy to fool the crowd. Turn the lights 
low, secure a ventriloquist, or even a good actor, 
and your purpose is accomplished. But when the 
sceptical are present, the performance is commonly 
balked. They are not looking for spooks and they 
do not see them. ‘These sceptics are valuable in 
uncovering fakes and pretenders. But Christ con- 
vinced sceptics in every instance. 

The women who went to His tomb were sceptics. 
As much as they loved Him they never expected to 
see Him alive again. They went not for the pur- 
pose of anointing a risen Christ; but to embalm a 
dead One. They would not believe in the resur- 
rection even on the authority of the angels’ testi- 
mony; and that, notwithstanding the fact that the 
two angels were in shining garments and they felt 
compelled to bow down their faces to the earth in 


RESURRECTION AND ASCENSION _ 169 


their very presence. They were not even convinced 
when the angels reminded them of the prophecy, 
“The Son of man must be delivered unto the 
hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third 
day rise again,” though it is distinctly declared that 
“they remembered his words.” Not until they had 
seen Him, not until they had heard His voice, were 
they convinced. 

The apostles were sceptics everyone. It is re- 
ported that the words of these women “ seemed to 
them as idle tales, and they believed them not.” 

Peter and John went on a tour of personal in- 
vestigation; and when they beheld “the linen 
clothes laid by themselves” they were not con- 
vinced, but “ departed wondering.” 

The two on the way to Emmaus were sceptics 
when Christ fell in with them, for He had to argue 
with them from the Scriptures that He was to be 
“condemned to die and be crucified and raised 
again the third day.” 

Thomas would not even take the testimony of 
his brethren, and insisted that nothing short of his 
own senses would cause him to believe. 

Paul was so unbelieving that he persecuted 
every man who named the name of Christ. And 
yet, one after another, they were compelled to 
capitulate and accept as true what the angels had 
said to the women, “ He is risen.” The word of 
an angel might, in itself, seem to have some author- 
ity, but when that word is attended by such evi- 


170 RESURRECTION AND ASCENSION 


dences as to convince man after man against his 
expectation, utterly setting aside his scepticism, who 
will question its weight? 

Again, there is the argument of the sight and 
statements of sane men. Paul splendidly sums this 
up in his epistle to the Corinthians. He says, “ He 
was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve: after that, 
he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; 
of whom the greater part remain until this present, 
but some are fallen asleep. After that, he was seen 
of James; then of all the apostles. And last of all 
he was seen of me also, as one born out of due 
time” (1 Cor. 15: 5-8). 

When Mahomet expired it is reported Omar 
rushed from the tent, sword in hand, and declared 
that he would hew down any one who should dare 
to say that the prophet was no more. But the 
apostles of Jesus Christ behaved quite to the con- 
trary. They consented that their Hero was dead; 
they mourned Him as gone forever; they could not 
believe what their ears heard concerning His resur- 
rection, and it required the indisputable evidence 
of His personal presence to convince them. When 
five hundred sane men and women stand up to 
testify to one thing, who would dispute them with- 
out the most overwhelming evidence to the con- 
trary; and where is the evidence that opposed their 
testimony? 

The speech of Christ Himself also must be 
considered. Matthew does not finish his report of 


RESURRECTION AND ASCENSION 171 


this evidence until he has recorded the words of 
Jesus, for the eleven disciples went away into 
Galilee, unto the place where He had appointed 
them, and Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, 
“ All power is given unto me in heaven and in 
earth. Go ye, therefore, and teach all nations, bap- 
tising them in the name of the Father, and of the 
Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to 
observe all things whatsoever I have commanded 
you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the 
end of the world.” From that time until His ascen- 
sion, He talked with them again and again. Every 
touch was a new revelation of Himself. Every 
word an additional proof. It was the forty days 
between the resurrection and the ascension that 
confirmed the faith of His followers, and made 
them ready to do, to dare, to die! 

Dr. Lorimer, in his ‘ Argument for Christian- 
ity,’ remarks upon a time when, more than a hun- 
dred years ago, a little Baptist Association deliber- 
ately resolved on “the reduction of heathenism, 
and determined on sending out an army of occupa- 
tion. ‘The stupendous audaciousness of the purpose 
excited the ridicule of not a few worldly-wise in- 
dividuals, and indeed was without a parallel except 
in the earliest aggressions of the church. And 
what rendered the movement more entertaining to 
the scoffers, and what imparted to it more and more 
of the spirit of desperate rashness and presumption, 
was the fact that the enterprise was entrusted to 


172 RESURRECTION AND ASCENSION 


the generalship of a ‘ consecrated cobbler ’ who him- 
self constituted nearly all that there was of the 
expedition.” 

But bold as was that endeavour, and marvelous 
as was the faith that attended it, bolder still was 
the faith of those poor, plain fishermen in their 
march upon the heathenism of the world, and 
infinitely greater was the confidence which they 
reposed in the Man of Nazareth! What is the 
explanation? For forty days, He (who had been 
crucified before their eyes and buried in the tomb 
of one who had befriended Him, against which a 
stone had been sealed, and about which a watch 
had been set,) walked with them, and inspired 
them, and finally ascended into the heavens before 
their very eyes! Aye, that was the foundation of 
their faith. That is the explanation of their cour- 
age. That is the secret of their willingness to be 
martyrs! That the rationale of the rise of the 
Church. 


II. CERTAINTY OF THE ASCENSION. 


To this subject of the ascension the Scriptures 
also speak. 

They had prophesied it should come. What is 
the meaning of the Psalmist’s language, “ Thou 
wilt not suffer thy Holy One to see corruption’? 
What is the suggestion except that He was to rise 
from the dead? And what is the suggestion of the 
same Psalmist, “Thou hast ascended on high; thou 


RESURRECTION AND ASCENSION § 173 


hast led captivity captive: thou hast received 
gifts”? Christ Himself had said to the officials 
who had been sent to take Him to the chief priests, 
“Vet a little while am I with you, and then I go 
unto him that sent me. Ye shall seek me, and shall 
not find me: and where I am, thither ye cannot 
come” (John 7:22-34). To Mary He replied, 
also, “I ascend to my Father and to your Father; 
and to my God and to your God.”’ And it came to 
pass even as He had said. 

People believe far more easily in the natural 
than in the supernatural. They accept the scien- 
tific with a relish they know not for the spiritual. 
When I was a student at college the transit of 
Venus occurred. At Aiken, South Carolina, some 
German scientists drew their meridian circle on a 
stone and took their observations from it, and then 
enjoined upon the people to leave that stone in 
place so that in the year 2004, when the transit of 
Venus should again occur, observations might be 
taken from the same meridian circle. Dr. Pierson, 
speaking of this, said, “ Thrones will have been 
emptied of occupant after occupant; empires will 
have been lost; and changes, whose number and 
gravity are too great now to be conceived, will 
have taken place. Nay, human history may have 
come to its great last crisis, and the millennial 
march may have begun. Yet, punctually to the 
moment, without delay or failure, these students 
of nature will expect Venus to make her transit 


174 RESURRECTION AND ASCENSION 


across the sun.” ‘They will hardly be disappointed. 
God’s order in nature is such that the great grand- 
children of those scientists will see their forebears’ 
predictions fulfilled. But God’s order, in the 
prophecy, is equally dependable. He ascended, 
even as He had said. 

What a demonstration this of His deity! John 
had testified after this manner, “ That which was 
from the beginning, which we have heard, which 
we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked 
upon and our hands have handled of the Word of 
Life, declare we unto you.” It included not only a 
risen Saviour, but an ascended One. ‘They had 
seen Him go! His ascension had been their most 
conclusive proof of His deity. A mortal man 
might be resuscitated from what seemed to be 
death; but when resurrection from the grave and 
ascension are combined who can stand against the 
argument for Deity? 

Charles Spurgeon says, “‘ Whenever I read mod- 
ern thoughts—and you cannot read long without 
coming across them—I am glad to get back to 
facts. And here are some facts. Jesus Christ did 
rise from the dead—that is true! He did also 
ascend into heaven, for His disciples saw Him.” 
Is not Spurgeon’s faith well grounded? If the 
testimony of men can be taken touching anything 
that ever occurred in this world to what fact can 
you bring better witnesses; witnesses more surely 
convinced against their expectation; witnesses more 


RESURRECTION AND ASCENSION 175 


perfectly in accord with what they say; witnesses 
more ready to seal their testimony with their blood, 
than were the five hundred who saw Him at once, 
and who perhaps waited upon one of the hills of 
Judea and watched until the very moment when the 
cloud received Him out of their sight? No wonder 
Charles Wesley wrote: 


“ Hail the day that sees Him rise, 
To His throne above the skies; 
Christ, the Lamb, for sinners given, 
Enters now the highest heaven. 
There for Him high triumph waits ; 
Lift your heads, eternal gates! 
He hath conquered death and sin, 
Take the King of Glory in.” 


In that ascension is the explanation of the 
Church. ‘This great institution must be accounted 
for. The early apostles did not hesitate to rest 
their claims to the conquest of the world on the 
fact of the ascension. ‘They had their commission 
from an ascended Lord. Their very gifts were 
imparted by the same ascended Lord. And, in all 
their services, they looked to heaven “ whence also 
he was to come”’ again. Christians of the present 
hour, who have never seen Him, yet know He is 
in the heavens; this with them is a matter of both 
history and inner consciousness. Someone tells the 
story of a lad, standing in the street holding tightly 
to a string which stretched away into the very 


176 RESURRECTION AND ASCENSION 


clouds. A man passing asked him what he was 
doing. “Flying my kite!” The man, looking into 
the heavens, said, ‘‘ How do you know that you 
have a kite, I see nothing?” ‘ Neither do I,” he 
replied, “ but I can feel it pull.” That is the uni- 
versal testimony of Christ’s men and women. ‘The 
great Magnet of our souls is the Son of God. Our 
drawings heavenward are not natural but super- 
natural. They are not born of the flesh, but be- 
gotten by the Son Himself, who hath ascended 
on high. 


“He is gone! and we remain 
In this world of sin and pain: 
In the void which He has left, 
On this earth of Him bereft, 
We have still His work to do, 
We can still His path pursue; 
We can follow Him below, 
And His bright example show.” 


Ill. THE SIGNIFICANCE OF BOTH. 

What of it if Christ be raised and ascended up 
on high? ‘“ Much every way.” 

Prominent among other things let me mention 
three. 

He, then, is in the Priest’s place. When they 
stoned Stephen unto his death the record says, 
“He looked up steadfastly into heaven and saw 
the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right 
hand of God.’ When they banished John to the 


RESURRECTION AND ASCENSION 177 


Isle of Patmos he turned from the barren wastes 
about him to the bright world beyond, and oh, what 
a vision was vouchsafed! “In the midst of the 
seven golden candlesticks was one like unto the Son 
of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, 
and girt about the paps with a golden girdle.” 
What is the significance? Priesthood! That is 
the girdle the great high priest wore. Hence the 
significance of the apostle’s words, “ Seeing, then, 
that we have a great high priest, that is passed 
into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us 
hold fast our profession. For we have not an 
high priest which cannot be touched with the 
feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points 
tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us, 
therefore, come boldly unto the throne of grace, 
that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help 
in time of need.” 

He, then, has the power to put away sin. The 
old priest could do that only by Divine appoint- 
ment. In fact he did not do it at all, but God 
did it, sending the message of remission through 
him. But this ascended One dares to say, “ Thy 
sins be forgiven thee.’ On what ground? Be- 
cause He was the very God! Sins had been com- 
mitted against Him; He, therefore, could remit 
them, and He only. David said, “ Against thee 
and thee only have I sinned.” The person who can 
forgive you is the one against whom you have 
sinned, and not another. How gracious to know 


178 RESURRECTION AND ASCENSION 


that the One against whom we have heaped our 
sins is the Son of God who has ascended to the 
very heavens and with Him is not only the power, 
but the spirit of forgiveness. Truly, as Maclaren 
says, “‘In Christ’s exaltation to the throne a new 
hope dawns on humanity. . . . This Christ Jesus 
has tasted death for every man, and so, brethren, 
sad, and mad, and bad as men may be, the Con- 
quering Captive at the right hand of God's throne 
is the measure of the pattern of what the worst of 
us may hope to be.” Why? Because He hath 
power to put away sin. 

Again, if He be the High Priest He proffers a 
free salvation. What is the message from the right 
hand of the throne? “I will—Be thou clean.” 
What is the message? “Thy sins which are many 
are all forgiven thee.’’ What is the message? “If 
ye confess your sins I am faithful and true to 
forgive you your sins and to cleanse you from all 
unrighteousness.” 

Oh, marvel of marvels, that men should neglect 
this, and run greedily after lesser good! When, 
several years ago, Dr. Lorenz came to this country 
he was brought by a millionaire of Chicago to put 
into place the dislocated hip of Lolita Armour. 
The attempt was supposed to be successful. ‘The 
newspapers made a great ado about the marvelous 
man and his accomplishments. People went wild; 
his way was thronged, cripples were carried into 
the light of his presence, and in a southern city 


RESURRECTION AND ASCENSION 179 


strong policemen wept as they were compelled to 
say to mothers, bearing their crippled darlings in 
their arms, “ He cannot give you attention,” and so 
turn them away. Such is the enthusiasm for 
lesser good. | 

I grant you it is a great thing to have a whole 
body. I do not blame those mothers for running 
after Lorenz, a mortal man of very limited power. 
No, I do not blame them. But I say that men and 
women will rise up to blame themselves when they 
wake at last to discover that they have gone 
through the world crippled in soul, and treating 
with indifference the claims of that Christ in whom 
is “all power in heaven and in earth” and who 
is as willing and able to make them every one every 
whit whole. 

Have you ever looked upon that masterpiece, 
“ Christ—the Consoler,” painted by Friedrich Diet- 
rich? One strange feature about it is that he 
presents Christ as among the European peasants 
of the present day, His personality and garb con- 
trasting with their rude figures and homely faces. 
Before Him are the lame, the halt, the blind, the 
aged, the wounded soldiers, and the toilers, and as 
He passes His very presence seems to heal and 
enhearten, and the text for it is, “ The whole multi- 
tude sought to touch Him, for there went virtue 
out of Him and healed them all.” 

Oh, will you cry the praises of a Lorenz, who 
at best could only give one temporal aid and pos- 


180 RESURRECTION AND ASCENSION 


sibly relieve a bodily deformity, and pass with 
indifference the risen and ascended Christ who, 
by His word, can put away sin, restore the soul to 
the image in which it was created, and send it forth 
in health and happiness for time and eternity? 


XI 
CHRIST, THE INCOMPARABLE 


“ Have this mind in you, whitch was also m Christ 
Jesus: who, existing in the form of God, counted not 
the being on an equality with God a thing to be 
grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a 
servant, being made in the Itkeness of men; and being 
found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, be- 
coming obedient even unto death, yea, the death of the 
cross. Wherefore also God highly exalted him, and 
gave unto him the name which ts above every name; 
that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of 
things in heaven and things on earth and things 
under the earth, and that every tongue should con- 
fess that Jesus Christ ss Lord, to the glory of God 
the Father.’—Pui.ippians 2: 5-11. 


HE, phrase, ‘‘ Christ, The Incomparable,” is 
extremely popular at present. It has come 
to be a custom with all liberal theologians, 

and almost a habit with outright infidels to pay 
tribute to the character of Jesus. Unitarians, and 
even atheists, have well nigh exceeded evangelicals 
in their laudation of the Man from Nazareth; and 
the present-day higher critics all say ‘‘ Amen,” 
when we pay tribute to Him. Renan said, “In 
Jesus is condensed all that is good and exalted in 
181 


182 CHRIST, THE INCOMPARABLE 


all nature.’ Thomas Paine remarked, ‘“ The 
morality that He preached has not been exceeded 
by any.” Disraeli, the Jew, confessed, “ Jesus 
has conquered Europe and changed its name to 
Christendom.” Rousseau remarked, “If the life 
and death of Socrates were those of a martyr, 
the life and death of Jesus were those of a 
God.”” When, therefore, a conservative talks 
either about the accomplishments or character of 
Jesus, he will find no liberal theologian, and but 
few infidels, to oppose him. It is only when we 
come to the question of His deity, involving as 
it\does, atonement for sin through sacrifice and 
cleansing by the shedding of blood, that they 
revolt and reveal their real estimate of Christ’s 
claims. 

It is a marvelous thing that any man could so 
live and die as to compel even His enemies to pay 
tribute to Him; as to force from the lips of the 
most malignant opponents masterly encomiumas, 
and yet Christ has accomplished that. When Paul 
penned this epistle to the Philippians this name was 
not so popular, and yet, by inspiration he pro- 
claimed its coming power, and, for the moment, 
turned prophet, and the civilised of all later centu- 
ries consent to the circumstance that he spake 
truthfully. 

There are three things he says about this Incom- 
parable One. 

First of all, God gave to Him 


CHRIST, THE INCOMPARABLE 183 


AN INCOMPARABLE NAME. 

“Have this mind in you, which was also in 
Christ Jesus; who, existing in the form of God, 
counted not the being on an equality with God a 
things to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking 
the form of a servant, being made in the likeness 
of a man, he humbled himself, becoming obedient 
even unto death, yea, the death of the cross. 
Wherefore also God highly exalted him, and gave 
unto him the name which is above every name.” 

Did you ever ask yourself the question why God 
gave to Him “a name that was above every 
name”? In how many respects is that an incom- 
parable name? I shall not attempt to answer that 
in full; but a few suggestions : 

He was incomparable in mental ability. Every 
apocryphal gospel tells remarkable things about the 
youth of Jesus. The true Gospels mention little 
of His youth, but when it is touched, His mental 
abilities are uncovered. At twelve years of age 
His parents at the feast, in leaving, miss Him. 
Aftet they had gone a great way toward home they 
made the discovery that the lad was not with them, 
and went back, “‘ and it came to pass, after three 
days they found Him in the temple, sitting in «the 
midst of the teachers, both hearing them, and 
asking them questions ; and all that heard him were 
amazed at his understanding and his answers.” 

Again in the Word of God we are told that “ He 
grew,’ not only “in stature,’ but “in wisdom,” 


184 CHRIST, THE INCOMPARABLE 


and that is easily accepted as a fact. The moment 
His public ministry begins men stand astounded, 
and even His enemies consent “never man spake 
like this man.’”’ On one occasion, when He had 
finished with the delivery of certain parables, He 
came into His own country, and taught them in 
their synagogue, “insomuch that they were aston- 
ished, and said, Whence hath this man this wisdom, 
and these mighty works? Is not this the carpen- 
ter’s son? Is not his mother called Mary? And 
his brethren James, and Joseph, and Simon and 
Judas? And his sisters, are they not all with ‘us? 
Whence, then, hath this man all these things? ” 

He was a product of no school and yet His 
speech has given rise to the great schools of the 
centuries. He was the author of no code of laws, 
yet His declarations determine the righteousness of 
all law. He engaged in no philosophical specula- 
tions, yet all philosophers are compelled to sit at 
His feet. He formulated no distinct system of 
theology, yet the only theology worthy the atten- 
tion of men, and calculated to do aught for a sin- 
ning, dying world, is that which is in the strictest 
keeping with His wonderful words. Truly, as Dr. 
Robert F. Horton, of the Old World, once said, 
“Churches and theologies”—(he might have 
added, schools)—‘‘ have failed us and confused 
us, but when Christ speaks from the mount all 
is Clear.” 

fle was incomparable in mighty accomplish- 


CHRIST, THE INCOMPARABLE 185 


ments. Dwight Hillis never said a truer thing, 
than when he wrote, “ Our wonder grows apace 
when we remember that He wrote no book, no 
poem, no drama, no philosophy; invented no tool 
or instrument; fashioned no law or institution ; dis- 
covered no medicine or remedy; outlined no phil- 
osophy of mind or body; contributed nothing to 
geology or astronomy, but stood at the end of His 
brief career, doomed and deserted, solitary and 
silent, utterly helpless, fronting a shameless trial 
and a pitiless execution. In that hour none so poor 
as to do Him reverence. And yet could some 
magician have touched men’s eyes they would have 
seen that no power in heaven and no force on earth 
for majesty and productiveness could equal or 
match this crowned sufferer whose name was to 
be ‘Wonderful.’ The ages have come and gone; 
let us hasten to confess that the carpenter’s Son 
hath lifted the gates of empires off their hinges 
and turned the stream of the centuries out of their 
channels. His spirit hath leavened all literature; 
He has made laws just, governments humane, man- 
ners gentle, even cold marble warm; He refined art 
by new and divine themes, shaped those cathedrals 
called ‘frozen prayers,’ led scientists to dedicate 
their books and discoveries to Him, and so glori- 
fied an instrument of torture as that the very queen 
among beautiful women seeks to enhance her love- 
liness by hanging His cross about her neck, while 
new inventions and institutions seem but letters in 


186 CHRIST, THE INCOMPARABLE 


His storied speech. Today His birthday, alone, is 
celebrated by all the nations. All peoples and tribes 
claim Him. None hath arisen to dispute His 
throne. Plato divides honours with Aristotle; 
Bacon walks arm in arm with Newton; Napoleon 
does not monopolise the admiration of soldiers. 
In poetry, music and art, and practical life, uni- 
versal supremacy is unknown. But Jesus Christ 
is so opulent in His gifts, so transcendent in His 
words and works, so unique in His life and death, 
that He receives universal honours. His name 
eclipses other names as the noonday sun obliterates 
by very excess of light.” 

He was incomparable in essential character. In 
all the days of my life I have never fallen upon an 
attack of the character of Christ until recently. 
Rousseau admitted it, Paine paid it tribute, Hume 
honoured it, and our countryman, Ingersoll, de- 
clared, “For the man Jesus, I have infinite re- 
spect.” Even erratic minds denying the deity of 
Christ and deriding the claims of the Church, 
never had the hardihood to decry His character. It 
remained for a modern, to attempt that defamation 
and exercise that blasphemy. The world for many 
centuries, so far as it has read the Scriptures at 
all, has been well nigh @ unit in its exalted judg- 
ment of Jesus. In fact, the picture given in the 
four Gospels is just exactly such as to confirm the 
basis for Dr. Carnegie Simpson’s claim that no 
such character could ever have been conceived apart 


CHRIST, THE INCOMPARABLE 187 


from its actual existence. He quotes J. 5. Mill as 
having declared, “It is no use to say that Christ, 
as exhibited in the Gospels, is not historical, and 
that we know not how much of what is admirable 
has been superadded by the traditions of His fol- 
lowers.” It is no use, because, as Mills adds, “ who 
among His disciples, or their proselytes—he might 
have added, ‘ who among the poets and dramatists 
of all the world ’—is capable of inventing the say- 
ings ascribed to Jesus or of imagining such a life 
and character. The only way in the world to ac- 
count for their work is to suppose that they spoke 
in utter veracity. They had a model and they 
copied it faithfully, and because the model was 
faultless, the reproduction, being faithful, was 
perfect, also.” 

This character of Jesus becomes the more re- 
splendent when one remembers the day in which 
He was born and lived. As another says, “It was 
an hour when tyranny and crime had gone upon 
a carnival. It seemed as if despots had determined 
to leave on earth not one of the gifted children of 
song or eloquence or philosophy or morals. Julius 
Czesar, the writer and ruler, had been murdered. 
Cicero, the orator, had been assassinated. Herod, 
who ruled over Christ’s city, murdered his two 
brothers, his wife, Mariamne, slew the children of 
Bethlehem, and, dying, ordered his nobles to be 
executed, that mourning for the king might be 
widespread. Yet in such an era, when He saw a 


188 CHRIST, THE INCOMPARABLE 


thousand wrongs to be achieved, Christ maintained 
His serenity, and reigned victorious over life’s 
troubles.” And one might add, He provided a 
solution for every sorrow and a salvation from 
every sin. 

But the apostle speaks in the next place of 


A CONQUERING NAME. 


“He gave unto him the name which is above 
every name; that at the name of Jesus every knee 
should bow, of things in heaven and things on 
earth and things under the earth.” 

His triumph in heaven is complete. ‘Two schools 
of interpreters—yea, twenty—have attempted the 
book of Revelation. But the two great schools 
are Preterists and Futurists. The first of these 
says that most of the things prophesied in the book 
of the Revelation have passed already, and the 
second insist, “ Not so; they are all yet to come.” 
Neither is right! Some of them have transpired 
and others of them are yet to come to pass. ‘Two 
thousand years ago John, on the Isle of Patmos, 
was vouchsafed a vision of the open heaven. He 
saw Jesus in His glorified estate. From Him he 
received messages for the seven churches in Asia; 
and then the Faithful and True Witness turned his 
attention to “the things that must shortly come to 
pass,’ and among them He granted to him a vision 
of the war in heaven. Michael is shown going 
forth to war with the dragon, “and the dragon 


CHRIST, THE INCOMPARABLE 189 


warred and his angels; and they prevailed not, 
neither was their place found any more in heaven. 
And the great dragon was cast down, the old ser- 
pent, he that is called the Devil and Satan, the de- 
ceiver of the whole world; he was cast down to the 
earth, and his angels were cast down with him. 
And I heard a great voice in heaven, saying, Now 
is come the salvation, and the power, and the king- 
dom of our God, and the authority of his Christ ; 
for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, who 
accuseth them before our God day and night. And 
they overcame him because of the blood of the 
Lamb, and because of the word of their testimony ; 
and they loved not their life even unto death. 
Therefore rejoice, O heavens, and ye that dwell in 
them. Woe for the earth and for the sea; because 
the devil is gone down unto you, having great 
wrath, knowing that he hath but a short time” 
(Rey. 12: 7-12). Where Christ is, this arch fiend 
cannot reign; he cannot even remain. 

He will accomplish the supremacy of the earth. 
“ At the name of Jesus every knee shall bow, of 
things in heaven and things on earth.’ O, how 
that declaration from Paul’s pen fits into the teach- 
ing of the Old Testament worthies. The Psalmist, 
catching a vision of the ages to come, wrote, “ He 
shall have dominion also from sea to sea, and from 
the River unto the ends of the earth. They that 
dwell in the wilderness shall bow before him; and 
his enemies shall lick the dust. ‘The kings of 


190 CHRIST, THE INCOMPARABLE 


Tarshish and of the isles shall render tribute; the 
kings of Sheba and Seba shall offer gifts. Yea, 
all kings shall fall down before him; all nations 
shall serve him. For he will deliver the needy 
when he crieth, and the poor, that hath no helper ” 
(72:8-12). Daniel, also, you remember, says, “I 
saw in the night-visions, and, behold, there came 
with the clouds of heaven one like unto a son of 
man, and he came even to the Ancient of days, and 
they brought him near before him. And there was 
given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, 
that all the peoples, nations and languages should 
serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, 
which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that 
which shall not be destroyed” (7: 13-14). This 
is that of which Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 
15: 24-25: “ Then cometh the end, when he shall 
deliver up the kingdom to God, even the Father; 
when he shall have abolished all rule and all author- 
ity and power. For he must reign, till he hath put 
all his enemies under his feet.” 

All civilisation moves to one end, whether it 
knows it or not; and all Christianisation has one 
object, whether it be thoroughly apprehended or 
not, and that is the conquest of Christ in this world, 
and the making of a new earth in which dwelleth 
righteousness. And it shall be done! I know the 
discouragements of the days intervening, and I 
know how the delays trouble even the dutiful; I 
know how apostacy from the faith filches the place 


CHRIST, THE INCOMPARABLE 191 


of genuine prophets, and yet I know, on the author- 
ity of God’s word-prophecies many of which have 
already found a fulfilment, that we move directly 
to this conquering by the Christ! God shall bring 
it to pass. Someone has said, “ The century plant 
takes a hundred years for root and trunk, but blos- 
soms in a night. And nations also shall in a day 
be born into culture and character.’’ And this same 
writer says, “ And every knee shall bow to the name 
that is above every name, and He whom God has 
lifted to the world’s throne shall, in turn, lift the 
world to a place beside Him.” 

His victory over hell will be acknowledged. 
There are some people who seem to think that hell 
is to beat heaven out; that the final victory is to be 
with the underworld. The text says not so; “ At 
the name of Jesus every knee shall bow, of 
things in heaven and things on earth and things 
under the earth.’ Satan and his entire host per- 
fectly understand that fact. That is the inter- 
pretation of the speech of the devils at the sight 
of Jesus. They trembled when He drew nigh; 
begged Him not to “torment them before their 
time,’ as if it were perfectly understood that there 
was a time fixed when every devil that had ever 
allied himself with the great Dragon, and become 
a permanent rebel against the Divine government, 
should cringe at the mention of His conquering 
name, and perish at the touch of His conquering 
hand. We wonder, after all, if that is not the in- 


192 CHRIST, THE INCOMPARABLE 


terpretation of Revelation 22: 10, where Satan and 
his associates and all followers, find their fate in 
the pit, hurled thence by the mighty Son of God. 
O, His is a conquering Name! At its mention 
everything of earth is destined to bow: at its men- 
tion every saint and angel of heaven will fall on 
the face; and at its mention every devil in hell will 
fear and flee away; then “ every tongue shall con- 
fess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God 
the Father.” 
His, then, is 


A GOD-GLORIFYING NAME. 


It would be an interesting study indeed to run 
the Scriptures through and see in what respects the 
name of Jesus glorifies God. O, there are so 
many! Let me pick out three of these and with 
that finish. 

In that name men are saved from sin. “ They 
shall call his name Jesus, for he shall save his 
people from their sins.” There is an eighth won- 
der in the world today, namely, the denial of sin. 
The denial of the most evident, the most potent 
fact of human experience and sane observation. 
sin! It is the author of all sorrows; it is the 
occasion of all doom; it is the call for hell. The 
whole world is under its blight. Not one noble 
man has escaped; not one fair woman has gone 
unscathed. Discouragement, disease, despair and 
death lie over the earth like a pall. 


CHRIST, THE INCOMPARABLE 193 


The name that is an antidote for sin, the man 
that can withdraw its sting, is the name, the man, 
that brings to God the greatest glory. In the 
Orient one of the commonest effects of sin is blind- 
ness, consequently when the disciples of Jesus saw 
one totally stricken by this affliction they ad- 
dressed their Master, ‘‘ Rabbi, who sinned, this man 
or his parents that he should be born blind? Jesus 
answered, Neither did this man sin, nor his par- 
ents’; the effect upon him is more remote, it has 
come down a greater distance, “ but that the words 
of God should be made manifest in him.” And 
Christ healed him, and God was glorified. 

The blind are everywhere, the lame lie at many 
gates, the fevered are found under a multitude of 
roofs; the deaf, the dumb, the demonised; O, how 
sin has made havoc with the sons of men. Dwight 
Hillis spake truly when he said, “ Long ago Cleo- 
patra, the daughter of supreme beauty, received 
sin into her arms, counting it to be an angel of 
light; but alas, sin broke her heart, and soon she 
welcomed the viper to her bosom. It was sin 
that wrecked the palace of David. It was sin that 
ruined the genius of Solomon. It was sin that 
stole the purple from Alcibiades and gave him in- 
stead the robe of a slave. It was sin that, serpent- 
like, crawled over the threshold of the palaces in 
Rome and left its slime within court and banquet- 
ing hall. Sin was the flame which blackened the 
Doge’s palace in Venice. Sin was the earthquake 


194 CHRIST, THE INCOMPARABLE 


that toppled down the treasure houses of Flor- 
ence. For Bacon sin was a worm in the bud of 
his heart. For Byron sin was moth and rust that 
consumed the mind. For Shelley sin was a van- 
dal that grew by the rapine and murder of the 
poet’s soul.” 

We are told that when the work of excavation 
was done in the streets, and the houses of Pompeii 
were uncovered, and the gathered treasures in 
bronze and marble and ivories and mosaics were 
assembled, in a museum, not one single object of 
them all had escaped some form of injury. The 
Winged Mercury had arms and legs broken, the 
white forehead of Venus had a black stain, every 
precious tablet was cracked to a greater or less 
degree, while the very rolls found in Pliny’s tomb 
had their writings too faded to read. This is only 
a type of the havoc sin has made in men. ‘The 
chief products of the divine artist, broken, scarred, 
stained, are we all. And Christ came to replace, 
to heal, to cleanse, to save. No wonder the men 
who looked upon Him in the old day when He both 
recovered the sick and forgave the sinner, glorified 
God, saying, “ We never saw it on this wise.” O, 
His is a God-glorifying name! 

He glorifies God by transforming the saved. 
His work is not that of reformation only; it in- 
volves transformation. ‘‘ For whom he foreknew, 
he also foreordained to be conformed to the image 
of his Son, that he might be the first-born among 


CHRIST, THE INCOMPARABLE 195 


many brethren.” “ We all with unveiled face be- 
holding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are 
transformed into the same image from glory to 
glory, even as from the Lord the Spirit” (2 
Bore shS): 

Henry Drummond, in his matchless booklet, 
“The Greatest Thing in the World,” speaks won- 
derfully of this transformation, accomplished while 
we behold the face of the transfigured Christ, and 
looking on Him, grow like Him in character. 
Horace Stanton says, “In the gallery of the 
Vatican at Rome, said to contain of art more 
genuine treasures than any other on the earth, there 
hangs a work which stands not only supreme above 
those others there, but, by the consenting judgment 
of three centuries and a half, at the head of all the 
oil paintings in the world—The Transfiguration, 
by Raphael. It was in the noonday of his life that 
he began it, and the sublimest conceptions of that 
peerless spirit are here displayed. A genius of 
amazing brilliancy, in imagination never yet sur- 
passed, but tender, sensitive, and reverential, was 
portraying that single scene when the Saviour was 
manifested to the disciples in His future celestial 
light, the only time that earthly eyes had yet seen 
Him in His glory. And, as the artist bent his 
might upon it, the splendid vision rose; in draw- 
ing, grouping, and dramatic power, a work un- 
equalled. It is called the grandest picture ever 
_limner wrought. But, as the, last lines were almost 


196 CHRIST, THE INCOMPARABLE 


done, God called Raphael. And, over his shadowy 
bier, they hung this picture; its colours still wet 
upon the canvas, the last work of that lifeless hand. 
What a funeral was this—that graceful figure 
covered with the painter’s cloak, the throng of 
mourners kneeling weeping there; but over all, the 
breathing beauty and immortal radiance of that 
heavenly scene, which showed the lustre of the 
Transfigured Christ. As Raphael in art, so we in 
spirit, speech and life may delineate the trans- 
figuration of our Lord. And, at our death, the 
lustre of Christ—crowned and regnant—shall fall 
on us, to give each his proper splendour. For, 
“as there is one glory of the sun, another glory 
of the moon, and another glory of the stars, though 
many stars may draw their radiance from that one 
central sun; so Christ’s glory shall be chiefest ; and 
each of us will have a proper share, all unlike one 
another, though we all shall be like him.” 

Yet once more, God receives glory in that Christ 
is Lord over death and the grave. He is our hope 
of a resurrection. When Lazarus lay dead and 
was revived—the great New Testament type of 
the resurrection of the saints—Jesus said to 
Martha, “ Said I not unto thee, that if thou be- 
lievedst, thou shouldest see the glory of God? So 
they took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up his 
eyes, and said, Father, I thank thee that thou hear- 
est me. And I knew that thou hearest me always; 
but because of the multitude that standest around 


CHRIST, THE INCOMPARABLE 197 


I said it, that they may believe that thou didst send 
me. And when he had thus spoken, he cried with 
a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth,’ and the glory 
of God was revealed. 

He is the Lord of life out of death; of victory 
over the grave. In His name saints shall con- 
quer against the last enemy, and troop up in bod- 
ies incorruptible, powerful, glorious, spiritual. | 
have attempted at times, in speaking of the resur- 
rection, to tell my auditors something of what the 
resurrection body will be. It was an impossible 
proposition! The most physically perfect man the 
world ever saw was Jesus on the day of the cruci- 
fixion. In His prime at thirty-three years of age, 
uncorrupted by sin, untouched by any infirmity of 
body, soul or spirit; and in that body, risen from 
the dead, one finds the model in the likeness of 
which all saints shall come forth. 

Stanton tells us that, ‘In the museums of 
Europe, you see statues of Antinous, that young 
man of antiquity who was noted for his symmetry 
and grace. There is the Apollo Belvidere, an 
artist’s sublime conception of the godlike form. 
In Frankfort you visit Dannecker’s famous group 
of statuary, ‘Ariadne on the Panther.’ It is in a 
building especially erected for it. There is the lithe 
and agile beast. Upon his back the beauteous 
maiden sits. ‘The drapery half reveals, and half 
conceals her fine proportions. ‘The expression on 
her face most sweet. ‘I‘he crimson curtains, which 


198 CHRIST, THE INCOMPARABLE 


surround the alcove, mellow the light, so that she 
almost seems to live. The group is mounted on a 
revolving pedestal. And, as it turns, you survey it 
from every side—matchless in its perfect beauty. 
The Antinous shows the ideal mould of man; the 
Ariadne the ideal form of woman. But who shall 
prove that, in the coming world, yea, in the mil- 
lenium of this world, every man and every woman 
will not be as beautiful of face and figure as the 
Antinous and the Ariadne? Those Greek statues 
were largely representations of the living figures 
seen in the gymnasia. They were illustrations of 
the superb physiques of the actual persons of that 
day. Modern statues are largely copied from them. 
But surely the figures of the glorified children of 
God in the New Jerusalem, will be more beautiful 
than were those of the children of men in ancient 
reece, 

“This is the first resurrection. Blessed and 
holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection, 
over these the second death has no power, but they 
shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall 
reign with him a thousand years.” 

It is a glorious prospect, and God Himself is 
glorified in the sure promise of Christ’s victory 
over death and the grave, and He will be in its 
final and unspeakable realisation. 


XII 
CHRIST AND THE CHANGING ORDER 


“ For many deceivers are gone forth into the world, 
even they that confess not that Jesus Christ cometh 
in the flesh. This is the decesver and the anti-christ. 
Look to yourselves, that ye lose not the things which 
we have wrought, but that ye receive a full reward. 
Whosoever goeth onward and abideth not sm the 
teaching of Christ, hath not God: he that abideth mn 
the teaching, the same hath both the Father and the 
Son. If any one cometh unto you, and bringeth not 
this teaching, receive him not into your house, and 
give him no greeting: for he that gweth him greeting 
partaketh in his evil works.”—II Joun 7-11. 


HE theme of this chapter is somewhat akin 
to that of a considerable volume brought 
from the press some years since by another 

writer. The speaker has no fear, however, lest 
this discussion should in any wise be confused with 
that volume. The theological cleavage will clearly 
distinguish them. However, they will have one 
feature in agreement, namely, “history is at one 
of its turning points,” and the Twentieth Century 
represents a crisis in the experience of the Chris- 
tian Church! 

If it be true that since the days of Kant in 


199 


200 CHRIST AND THE CHANGING ORDER 


philosophy, and Darwin in science, we have lived 
in a world of thought peopled with new intellectual 
citizens,’ one need not be surprised to find the 
thinking of the century rather confused since these 
gentlemen, approaching kindred themes from the 
separate standpoints of philosophy and _ science, 
came to exactly opposite conclusions, Kant con- 


tending that in the trial life the strongest and best — 


equipped will finally fall while Darwin insists that 
the result will be ‘‘ the survival of the fittest,” con- 
clusions which really gave occasion to Schopen- 
hauer’s dictum, “We are all fools living in a 
fool world.” 

When one gives himself to a study of the 
progress of that so-called “ modernism ‘‘ which is 
supposed to have originated with these men, he is 
compelled to consent that Schopenhauer had much 
basis for his remarks. Paradoxical as it may 
sound, John, writing twenty centuries ago, was 
dealing with the exact propaganda of certain 
present-day teachers known as “‘ Modern,” and we 
should give candid consideration to what he has to 
say upon the subject. 

Describing their theology he denominates its 
representatives as the apostles of deception and 
brings against their propaganda the  indict- 
ment of infidelity, declaring that all who par- 
ticipate with them are alike members of the 
anti-Christ. Is he justified in this somewhat rabid 
arraignment ? 


—~ ee 


CHRIST AND THE CHANGING ORDER 201 


THE APOSTLES OF DECEPTION. 

He describes them after this manner—‘ Many 
deceivers have gone out into the world, who con- 
fess not that Jesus Christ is coming in the flesh. 
This is a deceiver and an anti-christ.” 

Careful consideration of the language used 
brings out three suggestions. 

These are nominal disciples! The phrase em- 
ployed by John, “have gone out,” indicates that 
they had been members of the Christian fraternity, 
and had used their place in the church as a vantage 
point for the propagation of false teachings. In 
1 John 2:19 we read of certain ones—perhaps 
these same—‘‘ They went out from us, but they 
were not of us, for if they had been of us, they 
would have continued with us; but they went out 
that they might be made manifest that they were 
not all of us.” In other words, men who con- 
fessed loyalty to Jesus Christ became apostles of 
another gospel, the advocates of anti-Christian 
teaching. Even modern warfare, with all its de- 
vices for the destruction of an army, has been able 
to hit upon nothing more effective than to get an 
enemy within the camp. No men in all England, 
during the late war, were able to do her injury as 
those men who dwelt within her borders, even 
joining her army, wearing her uniform, using her 
language, but secretly communicating with and 
aiding her enemies. The word “spy” has long 
been a detested one. As a rule, a man who plays 


202 CHRIST AND THE CHANGING ORDER 


that role is not held in esteem by any save those 
whose interests he directly represents. Paul, writ- 
ing a letter to the Galatians, declared that he had 
encountered “ false brethren, brought in unawares 
who came in privily to spy out the liberty he and 
his friends enjoyed in Christ Jesus, the intent of 
whose business was that they might bring them 
into bondage.” 

We do not desire to be harsh, nor would we 
consciously entertain an uncharitable spirit, but we 
must declare our deepest conviction, namely that 
the greatest enemy of any church of Jesus Christ 
is the man who remains in her, assumes to be one 
of her teachers, calmly wears her good name and 
yet denies the deity of Him who brought her into 
being, and disputes the authority of the Book upon 
which she has, for full twenty centuries, rested her 
every contention. I regard myself as declaring a 
most patent truth when I say that ‘‘ modernism,” 
so-called, is just such an enemy. By lip and pen it 
has alike rejected Jesus and repudiated the Bible. 

It is a matter of more than passing interest also 
to trace the parallelism between the opponents of 
John’s epistle and the present-day opponents of 
Jesus. 

They denied His physical manifestations! The 
language in which John indicated them is this, 
“They confess not that Jesus Christ is coming in 
the flesh.” The King James version, as you recall, 
has it “is come in the flesh.” If that translation 


CHRIST AND THE CHANGING ORDER 2038 


were correct it might refer to the first appearance 
of Jesus. If the text of the 1911 version 1s cor- 
rect, ‘‘ who confess not that Jesus is coming in the 
flesh,’ then the second coming is in the mind of 
the sacred writer. But in either event that which 
these false teachers opposed was the physical mani- 
festation of God in Christ Jesus. Truly they have 
their successors. God manifest in the flesh is a 
miracle of such transcendent import as to be utterly 
rejected by our advocates of evolution! They 
almost universally resort to the statements that 
Jesus, while being God’s best representative, was 
yet born of Mary and begotten by Joseph. This 
doubtless is one of those “ New Testament con- 
cepts,’ mentioned by a Modernist, “ which the 
modern world, under the dominion of science, finds 
it impossible to understand, much less to believe.”’ 
Concerning the second appearance of Jesus in 
personal visible form, known as Messianism, we 
are blithely told that it is a “survival of Judaism 
and its influence and implications must be removed 
before we can see the essential elements of the gos- 
pel.”’ Of course the resurrection of Jesus is an- 
other physical manifestation which, while not 
expressly mentioned in the text, is involved in the 
question, and it is now well nigh the common 
custom among new theologians to hold that New 
Testament contention to ridicule. In fact, we are 
plainly asked the question, “ If a man believes in a 
risen Christ without believing in the events of the 


204 CHRIST AND THE CHANGING ORDER 


first Easter day or in the objective character of 
the appearances of Jesus to Paul and the other 
apostles,” should “he be excluded from preaching 
the gospel of salvation?’ and are answered “ As- 
suredly not,’ and we are told that “ He, too, can 
bring and must bring his conviction of the con- 
tinued life of Jesus to bear upon men and women.” 

But this raises the logical and inevitable ques- 
tion—*“‘ What Jesus is he preaching and whence 
does he bring either his Master or his message? ” 
Manifestly it cannot be the Jesus of the Bible, for 
He was “ flesh and blood” before His crucifixion 
and ‘flesh and bones” after His resurrection, 
physical and visible in His ascension, and destined 
to be visible and personal in His glorious second 
appearance. What nonsense, then, to imagine 
that by the adoption of a name to which there 
was never a corresponding reality, one has cre- 
ated a personality and provided a message. Such 
“poetry “ as the following is of the essence of 
inanity :-— 


“Tf He lived or died, I may not know, 
For who shall disprove the words of the dead, 
Or who may approve of the wisdom they said? 
For me He is not of the long ago, 
But speaks in the morn of my life, I know.” 


Who speaks; and what does He say? Is it not — 
true, as one of their own company has confessed, 
that “ When we take away the historical Jesus, we 





CHRIST AND THE CHANGING ORDER 205 


9 


take away the only Jesus,” and “ remove the Gos- 
pel” and thereby “change the very definition of 
Christianity itself, ” “for Christianity as an em- 
bodiment of the Gospel is a phase of religion de- 
termined by historical facts’? Any Jesus not 
begotten by the Holy Ghost, born of Mary, cruci- 
fied on Calvary, raised the third day, ascended to 
the right hand of God and destined to descend to 
the earth and take His throne and reign from sea 
to sea, is as much the figment of a distempered 
imagination as are the dreams resulting from an 
overdose of meat, and any message based upon it 
has no more claims upon intelligent thinking men 
than do the unintelligible, incoherent babblings of 
a Mary Baker Eddy. 

What would you think of a man who said he 
believed in George Washington, but not the George 
Washington who was born in 1732 in Westmore- 
land County, Virginia, who was the first President 
of the United States, who led in the Revolution, 
and whose opinions gave rise and final form to the 
very constitution of the country itself. He be- 
lieved rather in a Washington who never had a 
visible, physical existence, but whose ideas and 
spirit dominated the colonies in the Puritan days 
and still lives. Candidly, one finds it difficult to 
be patient with men who name themselves “ Ra- 
tionalists ’ while dispensing with reason and call 
themselves “ thinkers’? while giving proof that 
they are incapable of clearly stating premises or 


206 CHRIST AND THE CHANGING ORDER 


reaching logical conclusions. There never was a 
more just and justifiable indictment made against 
men than I. M. Haldeman brings against these 
self-named Moderns when he says: 

“The Christ they preach never rose from the 
dead in the body.” 

“The Christ they preach has no body.” 

“Their Christ is a boneless and fleshless Christ.” 

“The Christ of the modern theologian is an im- 
material ghost.” 

“ Over the doors of some modern theological — 
institutions might well be written, ‘ Erected to the 
Ghost Christ!’ ” 

“Over the pulpits of some modern preachers 
might be written, ‘Here the Ghost Christ is 
preached.’ ” 

Their message is as baseless as their Christ is 
bodiless. 

These John denominated the Anti-Christ. His 
language is, “ This is the deceiver and anti-Christ. 
Look to yourselves that we lose not those things 
which we have wrought, but that we receive a full 
reward.” 

A careful study of the Bible will show that 
the anti-Christ is a person destined to head up the 
final but fatal rebellion against God, and yet the 
Sacred Scriptures equally teach that preliminary 
to His appearance and preparatory unto the same 
is a whole school of men who shall speak against 
Jesus Christ, incessantly striving to bring God to 


CHRIST AND THE CHANGING ORDER 207 


the level of man and exalt man to the level of God. 
Fundamental to this whole Satanic scheme is the 
discrediting of the Sacred Scriptures. The man 
who attempts that is brought to book in John’s 
catalog of the Anti-Christ. Before one can suc- 
cessfully dispute the claim that “ Jesus is the Son 
of God, that God dwelleth in Him and He in God,” 
he must discredit the whole doctrine of inspiration ; 
and yet unless he do that adroitly, he may fail even 
in the judgment of his coveted followers. What 
could be more adroit than to insist that the denial 
of inspiration is not necessarily a denial of a 
divine Saviour? They tell us that Jesus is the 
foundation in our religion and whatever else we 
lose we shall not lose Him. It is written, ‘‘ Other 
foundation can no man lay than that which is laid, 
which is Jesus Christ.” 

But back of the foundation laying is work in the 
quarries. The Scriptures are the quarries of truth. 
Discredit them and no Christ remains save that 
moral phantom of the Modern’s intellect. If man 
bow before him or “it,” he must concede Mrs. 
Eddy’s contention that our behaviour is determined 
by the “illusions of mortal mind,” and once and 
forever part company with the whole goodly com- 
pany of New Testament apostles and teachers, for 
in the language of John McDowell Leavitt, “ That 
company of notable names knew Jesus Christ by 
the same sufficient crowning proofs the chemist 
employs when he analyses salt; the geologist uses 


208 CHRIST AND THE CHANGING ORDER 


when examining a rock; the astronomer engages 
when he observes the stars: namely, the senses. 
These witnesses affirmed that they had seen and 
heard and touched Jesus both before and after the 
resurrection. ‘Io the visible, the audible and the 
tangible they gave evidence with their blood before 
the earth and heaven, and with it they sealed their 
testimony. ‘Thus their sincerity is unimpeachable, 
while they witnessed not to a philosophical opinion, 
not to a scientific explanation, not to a religious 
dogma, but to the plain perceptible fact that Jesus 
arose from the dead and ascended unto glory.” 

The author of our text voices it after this man- 
ner, “ That which was from the beginning, which 
we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, 
which we have looked upon, and our hands have 
handled of the Word of Life: that which we have 
seen and heard declare we unto you.” He it is 
that says, ‘‘ Deny that and you are ‘a deceiver and 
an anti-christ,’ ’’ and do become 


THE PROPAGANDIST OF INFIDELITY. 

“Whosoever goeth onward,” as the expression 
in the original is, “and abideth not in the teach- 
ings of Christ, hath not God.” It is a significant 
fact that in the very word here employed, “ proa- 
gan,” and correctly, translated “ goeth onward,” 
we have the very word “ progressive,” a term which 
has been voluntarily assumed by the critics of 
the times. 


CHRIST AND THE CHANGING ORDER 209 


They profess to be the solitary progressives of 
the hour. ‘They speak of themselves as “ men who 
really think.” In their advanced circle they claim 
to include practically “‘ every biblical teacher in the 
world of any scholarly significance.” In youth 
their mothers must have told them that if they 
did not think well of themselves no one else would, 
and forgot to warn them against its vociferous ex- 
pression. Against the “ Thus saith the Lord” of 
the conservatives they have, in the language of 
another, set up a sacramental phrase, namely, 
“Scholarship is agreed.” If they ever name an 
exception they are careful not to name more than 
one or, at the most, two who are not trailing with 
this self-elected tribunal. 

In spite of the fact that some of us are privileged 
to minister to many men who represent the most 
complete scholastic training and who in circles of 
their respective sciences are widely known and 
justly honoured, and whose loyalty to the authority 
of the Scriptures and very deity of Christ is as 
unswerving as was that of Paul, it is even denied 
that the church now numbers among its members 
any considerable company of the “ scientifically 
trained’ and “ professional classes.” We are even 
asked, ‘What has become of these college bred 
men and women who went out from graduating 
classes into the wide world?” Possibly these 
Progressives might make a discovery if they sat 
down and studied the membership roll of the 


210 CHRIST AND THE CHANGING ORDER 


greater churches of this land which are, without 
exception, under conservative leadership. If it be 
true that “in the church at large, not one in fifty 
members are college graduates,” it might bring 
another revelation than that which our Progres-_ 
sives imagine. The discovery may be made that 
the conservative churches far exceed this propor- 
tion. The speaker knows well one church that 
multiplies this number many times over, and bears 
testimony that these college and university men and 
women are not only among his most capable mem- 
bers, but are notable in their theological conserv- 
atism. It is not “education” that is taking the 
generation away from the church, but it is “ scepti- — 
cism masking under the name of scholarship.” 

It is as impossible to make science oppose Scrip- 
ture as it is to compel God to contend against 
Himself, and if culture oppose the Church, then 
the child fights its own mother, yea, even the — 
creature its Creator. But “ Science falsely so- — 
called’ has bespattered the pages of Scripture with 
interrogation points, and many a college and uni- 
versity student has thereby stumbled. Darwinism, — 
a dogma without scientific data, or, in the words of © 
the famous French scientist, Fabre, “ A theory ex- | 
ploited in big words but destitute of even little 
facts’’ has undone alike the superficial student of 
both Scripture and Science. It is impossible to 
start from false premises and reach true con-_ 
clusions. If, therefore, we have been able, as_ 


CHRIST AND THE CHANGING ORDER 211 


charged, to create a test of church membership that 
“compels a man under the influence of today’s 
scholarship to abandon not only a life of evil 
thought and evil action, but also the results of his 
education,” it may be because that education was 
as far wrong as either his thought or action. The 
outcome will not only vindicate the church but re- 
enthrone the Christ. 

Exclusive leadership on the part of Moderns is 
a mere assumption. Mrs. Eddy has illustrated the 
fact that you may state a thing so positively, and 
repeat it so often as to bring the superficial to ac- 
cept it. She took two of the noblest words known 
to human speech, “ Christian’ and “ Science,” and 
by combining and adopting them has brought the 
unthinking to imagine her an expert in both, and 
that in spite of the fact that her writings reveal no 
knowledge whatever of either. 

For fully fifteen years or longer, our self-styled 
“ Moderns” have been asserting their leadership 
alike in “ Science”? and “ Scripture.” Some have 
supposed that a thing so often spoken must neces- 
sarily be so, and so Modernism has accomplished 
its following. Such students would have been 
profoundly impressed by the Pharisee’s prayer and 
from the hour of its utterance would have been his 
devoted followers. The claim of “assured re- 
sults’? has made its easy dupes in both the oil 
enterprise and the hyper-critical profession. Al- 
most without exception the devotees of that mod- 


212 CHRIST AND THE CHANGING ORDER 


ern scepticism which discredits the deity of Jesus 
Christ and questions the authority of the Bible, are 
either still in their tender youth or else had their 
thinking fatally twisted before they were far out 
of their teens. Not once in a hundred instances do 
mature men turn from conservatism to liberalism; 
and, in that instance, the rule is that while the man 
was mature in years, his early education was both 
poor and partial, and at forty he had only the in- 
tellectual equipment of a lad. Who knows a single 
man in whom ripened years and scholarship have 
combined to produce a sceptic? But there are 
scores of men, many of them world-famed, in 
whom additional study and experience have 
wrought an utter revolt from the doubts of youth. 

But the greater seriousness of all this John does 
not disregard. 

He charges those who reject the Son with having 
lost the Father also. Unitarianism, masking under 
the term “ Evangelical,” proposing to retain God 
even though Christ be rejected, has no God, unless 
John be disputed. “ He that hath not the Son hath 
not the Father.” ‘“ Whosoever’ goeth onward and 
abideth not in the teaching of Christ hath not God.” 

The New York Presbytery, in ordaining men 
who dispute the virgin birth, and thereby deny the 
inspiration of plain Scripture statement, if it con- 
tinue to wear the name of “ Christian” will do 
nothing better than cloak an infidel form with a 
profession of faith. The life of Presbyterianism 


“~-*. S  ) oo: 





CHRIST AND THE CHANGING ORDER 213 


as a positive Christian force will depend in no small 
measure upon its regard for the Cincinnati and 
Philadelphia Presbyteries’ request that such Uni- 
tarians be disfellowshipped. ‘The history of the 
past has provided abundant proof of the utter 
powerlessness of the Unitarian propaganda. It has 
created no ministry worthy of mention, it has 
started no missions that have proven virile, it has 
established no colleges that play conspicuous part 
in the educational process. It has effected so few 
converts from sin to holiness that one sometimes 
wonders how it keeps courage enough to build an 
occasional church. Its people are almost univer- 
sally disciples of Charles Darwin, and with equal 
unanimity they emasculate the writings of Moses, 
repudiate the prophecies of Daniel, or give them 
late date, and laugh to scorn the Apocalypse of 
John, while Jesus is to them Mary’s bastard son. 
Is it any wonder that John dares to say, “ Whoso- 
ever goeth onward and abideth not in the teachings 
of Christ hath not God’’? 

But now what is to be the attitude of true Chris- 
tian men and women toward all of this? Let John 
speak again, “If anyone come unto you and bring 
not this teaching, receive him not into your house, 
nor bid him Godspeed, for he that biddeth him 
Godspeed is partaker of his evil deeds.” 


THE PARTICIPANTS IN THE ANTI-CHRIST. 
According to John, Christian fraternity is not 


214 CHRIST AND THE CHANGING ORDER 


for Christ's opponents. One of our best commen- 
tators tells us that the phrase, “If anyone come 
unto you and bring not this teaching, receive him 
not,’ looks not to a social reception but rather to 
a reception into the house of God, unto Christian 
fellowship. The true Christian will not be un- 
friendly toward an infidel, nor refuse social fel- 
lowship with a sceptic; on the contrary, he will 
show neighbourliness for every man visiting his 
door and kindness to any one coming to, or going 
from the same. But that does not mean his recep- 
tion into the fellowship of God’s family, nor a 
benediction upon infidelity in God’s name. I have 
no creed to which my neighbours must subscribe, 
no doctrinal standards to which my acquaintances 
must come. ‘The Unitarian may be my closest per- 
sonal friend, and the Universalist my fishing com- 
panion, and it is alike my privilege and pleasure 
to return the bland smile of Mrs. Fiddy’s disciple. 
But the fellowship of faith is altogether another 
thing, and cannot be accorded to any who “ bring 
not the teaching of Christ,’ “God manifest in the 
flesh.” The moment you create a church that 
exceeds fellowship in Christ, you introduce into it 
the seeds of self-destruction. 

The weakness of present-day Protestantism is at 
exactly that point. We are wondering why we 
are not marking greater progress. We are worry- 
ing over subjects of secondary concern. We are 
searching every nook and corner of church life to 


CHRIST AND THE CHANGING ORDER 215 


discover the elements of weakness in our work. 
‘We are saying that by a “further federation of 
forces”” we will “engender power.” The exact 
opposite is true! We are over-federated now. 
Our affiliations are our fundamental weaknesses. 
Better a Gideon’s three hundred that believe God 
and lap the Water of Life from the fountain of 
His Word than the thousands that now leisurely 
drink from the springs of scepticism that gush 
from multiplied schools as water does from the 
mole holes of the Southland in a wet season. 

But John has a further word, He makes our 
commendation of sceptics a self-condemnation. 
“He that biddeth him Godspeed is partaker of his 
evil deeds.” Frankly do some of us confess “ to 
making it a part of our life work to mark the man 
who brings not the teaching of Jesus, God mani- 
fest in the flesh, and to refuse to recommend him 
to any church seeking our advice. How can we 
do otherwise and keep conscience at all? Would 
we advise you to take into your house as a boarder 
a man who would alienate your affections from 
your husband, and by criticisms finally dethrone 
him from the headship of the family? Can we 
advise any church to receive as a pastor a man who 
denies the deity of Jesus, and removes from the 
headship of the church her own and only rightful 
Lord? Believing as we do that He is the very 
God, the one and only basis of hope for time and 
eternity, the one and only sufficient moral ideal, 


216 CHRIST AND THE CHANGING ORDER 


and inspiring personality, the one and only Saviour 
from sin, in fact, the one and only way for the 
world’s redemption, how can we recommend the 
man who proposes to tear the crown of deity from 
His brow, dispute His authority over the con- 
science and His Lordship over life? 

John McDowell Leavitt said truly, “ Take Jesus 
from the world and you turn it into gloom. Let 
Him reign and humanity realises its dream of light 
and love. In His system and character are all the 
marks of a divine Messiah. But Jesus false, how 
black the picture and how inconceivable the conse- 
quences. No middle place for this Christ so per- 
fect in character and so matchless in career. If 
not from the Holy Ghost in the Virgin, His con- 


ception a lie! If angels did not sing at His birth, — 


and after temptation and amid agony, and watch 
at His tomb, narratives of their appearances false- 
hoods! If no divine voice at His baptism, His 
ministry of holiness opening with imposture! If 
no suffering mortals relieved by His touch and 
word, His miracles of love fabrications! If no 
power over Hades, His promise to the thief on 
the cross a deception! If no resurrection and 
ascension, fraud carried over life into death 
itself! If no return in power, then no millennium 
for this world is possible, and the future will grow 
increasingly bloody and eventuate in the darkest 
of nights. He who mars the Jesus of the Bible 


unmakes mankind. He who blots the sentences of - 


? 
: 
| 





CHRIST AND THE CHANGING ORDER 217 


sacred Scripture, flings a blackness over future 
history ” 

Commend him.as a teacher? Ask a church to 
appoint him to its leadership? Write letters, dex- 
terously dodging the facts involved, in aiding him 
to cover up his unfaith long enough to be com- 
fortably seated and begin to uncover his scepticism, 
and thereby break the hearts of his aged parish- 
ioners and destroy the faith of his youthful ones? 
Never! For this would be to be a partaker of his 
evil deeds. The compromise of truth is a crime 
against Christ! 

The crisis is on! The injunction of Joshua lives 
again, “‘ Choose ye this day!” 


“He that hath felt the spirit of the highest, 
Cannot confound or doubt Him, or deny ; 
Yea, with one breath, O world, though thou 
deniest, 
Stand thou on that side, for on this am I.” 





INSPIRATION AND SELF-HELP 








CHARLES E. JEFFERSON, _D.D. 


Under Twenty 
Messages to Big Boys and Girls. $1.50. 


Clothed in direct and simple language, Dr. Jefferson’s 
messages to young folk enshrine truths of the highest 
import, and point towards the attainment of life’s highest 
ideals. Out of his rich treasure-house, he brings forth 
“things both new and old.” He is an acknowledged 
master of clear, unmistakable presentation, which finds 
ample expression in this admirable series of addresses. 


JOHN T. FARIS, D.D. 
Men Who Conquered ; 
1.25 


The new volume in “Making Good Series” contains 
many hints on how to gain real success from_the lives 
of men of modern days, such as William E. Dodge, 
Jacob Riis, Charles A. Eastman, Isaac Pitman, George 
W. Childs, John Muir, etc. 


ARTHUR E. ROBERTS 


Scout Executive, Cincinnati Council, Boy 
Scouts of America. 


Emancipation of Youth 


$1.00. 
Beginning with the belief that most lads come into 
the world possible of being directed and developed into 
lives of normalcy and usefulness, Mr. Roberts proceeds 
to discuss such aspects of his subject as: Mind-mak- 
ing; Heredity; Bases of Habit; Periods of Growth; 
the Attitude and Influence of the Church, the School 
and the Home of the Boy; Adolescence and Leisure. 
james E. West, Chief Scout Executive (N. Y.), says: 
‘I am quite enthusiastic over it. It is thoroughly sound 
—decidedly worth while.” 


P English, 
HOWARD BEMENT Gas vA Ate 


Old Man Dare’s Talks to College Men 


75¢. 


“Old Man Dare” is not an elderly person. The quali- 
fying adjective betokens, not age but affection and respect 
felt for him by a number of College classmen to whom 
he gave a series of simple, unaffected talks such as may 
be held as likely to stimulate a lively sense of fair play, 
promote honorable dealing, develop character and a cor- 
responding revulsion for mean, shabby conduct which 
falls below the standard of a man. ‘These sane, straight 
talks of “Old Man Dare” form the contents of this 
present volume. 


STANDARD REFERENCE WORKS 








G. B. F. HALLOCK Editor of “The Expositor.” 


A Modern Cyclopedia of Illus- 
trations for All Occasions 


Nineteen Hundred and Thirty-eight Illustrations. 


$3.00. 
A comprehensive collection of illustrative incidents, 
anecdotes and other suggestive material for the outstandin 
days and seasons of the church year. ‘The author, well- 
known to the readers of “The Expositor,’ has presented 
a really valuable handbook for Preachers, Sunday School 
Superintendents and all Christian workers. 


JAMES INGLIS 
The Bible Text Cyclopedia 


A Complete Classification of Scripture Texts. 
New Edition. Large 8vo, $2.00 
‘More sensible and convenient, and every way more 
satisfactory than any book of the kind we have ever 


known. We know of no other work comparable with 
it in this department of study.”—Sunday School Times. 


ANGUS-GREEN 
Cyclopedic Handbook to the Bible 


By Joseph Angus. Revised by Samuel G, Green. 


New Edition. 832 pages, with Index, $3.00. 
“The Best thing in its line.’—Ira M, Price, Univ. of 


icago. 
“Holds an unchallenged place among aids to the inter- 

pretation of the Scriptures.”—Baptist Review and Ex- 

posttor. 5 

Ph, immense service to Biblical students.” —Methodist 
imes. 


The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge 
Introduction by R. A. Torrey 

Consisting of 500,000 Scripture References and 
Parallel Passages. 788 pages. 8vo. Cloth. $3.00. 
“Bible students who desire to compare Scripture with 
Scripture will find the “Treasury’ to be a better help than 


any other book of which I have any knowledge.”—R. R. 
McBurney, Former Gen. Sec., ¥Y. M. C. A., New York. 


A. R. BUCKLAND, Editor 


Universal Bible Dictionary 
511 pages. 8vo. Cloth. $3.00. 


Dr. Campbell Morgan says: “Clear, eoncise, compre- 
hensive. I do_not hesitate to say that if any student 
would take the Bible, and go through it book by book with 
its aid, the gains would be enormous.” 





EVANGELISTIC METHODS, ETC. 


R. A. TORREY, D.D. 


The Gospel for To-day 


New Evangelistic Sermons for a New Day. 
$1.50. 
A new volume of appealing addresses by the well-known 
evangelist and Bible teacher, characterized by unusual 
clearness of statement and frankness of appeal. The 
Christian Endeavor World says of Dr. Torrey’s sermons: 
“They are full of power. They have Moody’s earnest- 
ness and pith, They are sound to the core, They will 
mahe revivols even in their printed form.” 


R. A. TORREY, D.D. 


Personal Work 


sit 
A new edition of Dr. Torrey’s pertinent and time 
yolu for evangelistic work. As one reviewer Bide 
“Dr. Torrey is not one of the men who ‘aim at nothing 
and hit it.’ He is no trifler, and does not act as if he 
imagined that one bit of argument or appeal is not about 
as good as another irrespective of the particular state of 
mind of the person appealed to.” 


DWIGHT MALLORY PRATT, D.D. Pilgrim 
————$——$ Memorial Fund. 


The Master’s Method of Winning Men 


Introduction by Frederick L. Fagley, D.D. 
$1.00. 
A plea for “personal evangelism.” While not unmind- 
ful of the usefulness and practicability of other ways of 
bringing men to Christ, Dr. Pratt gives pride of place 
to personal contact as the most effectual method of win- 
ning souls. He adds the records of a number of striking 
instances of how it has shown itself to be one of the 
chief glories and most effective agencies of the Christian 
religion. 


JOHN TIMOTHY STONE 


Recruiting for Christ 


Hand-to-Hand Methods with Men. 
New Edition. $1.50. 


An up-to-date edition of this helpful book on Evan- 
gelistic work of which The Presbyterian Advance said: 
‘Preaching is no less necessary than formerly, but must 
be 1 bagi c by personal appeal. This remarkably 
helpful book contains many suggestions, drawn largely 
from personal experience, as to the men to reach, prep- 
aration for the work, methods of approach, methods of 
work, etc.” 


RELIGIOUS BOOKS OF THE HOUR 








HON. WILLIAM JENNINGS BRYAN 
j Former Secretary of State. 
In His Image 


James Sprunt Lectures, 1921. $1.75. 


New York Herald says: “This book is an event. of 
importance. The author is spokesman for a large seg- 
ment of the people, and his work is a frank, vigorous, 
often eloquent appeal to revelation to the Bible accepted 
literally as the supreme teacher....Modern science does 
not yield readily to any incantation or magic formula, 
but it will be ill-advised if it underestimates the poten- 
tialities of a Byranized education...... Mr. Bryan has 
the courage of his convictions and realizes that revealed 
religion must rest squarely upon the validity of its 
revelation,” 


S. A. STEEL, D.D. 


The Modern Theory of the Bible 

$1.25. 

“The theory of modern rationalists is here answered. 

The author is an unflinching believer in the divine inspira- 

tion and authority of the Bible and his book is of strength 

and ability and attractiveness. It is refreshing to take up 

a volume of such virility and Christian loyalty to divine 
truth.”’—Herald and Presbyter. 


WILLIAM BANCROFT HILL 


Professor of Biblical Literature in Vassar College 


The Apostolic Age 
A Study of the Early Church and its Achieve- 


ments. $2.00. 

Dr. Hill, author of ‘The Life of Christ,” furnishes a 
careful and an exhaustive study of the dawn-time of Chris- 
tianity, in which he analyzes with great wealth of detail, 
the methods adopted and followed by the first heroes of 
the Cross. The author believes the Apostolic Age was the 
supremely great missionary age of the Church and should 
be studied as such, 


JAMES E. DARBY, D.D. Pastor First Baptist Church 


R New Brighton, Pa, 
Jesus an Economic Mediator 


God’s Remedy for Industrial and International Ills. 
$1.50. 
*“‘Mr. Moody in his day felt that the Church had lost its 
grip on the masses. He thought he saw the chasm growing 
wider every day. Mr, Moody was not alone in his criti- 
cism. It is a well-known fact that a large body of workers 
criticize the Church as organized. They believe that she 
is supported by the privileged class. Dr. Darby’s book will 
go far toward removing that reproach, if leaders in_both 
camps—labor and capital, will study his message.’’—Chris- 
tian Index. 





























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